Two Faced
by bigk4062
Summary: Sequel to Aftermath... Years after he tried to take over his weaker halves life, he waits, watching through the mirrors for the best opportunity to strike at Kaiba's perfect life. J/K Y/YY B/T/R with mentioned past J/M and one-sided K/YY * last 3 chapters posted thank you all for reading!
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I didn't want to have a sequel to Aftermath, I really didn't. Then I started typing, and 20 pages later... well you get the idea. I think I have a problem. Anyway, this fic will be posted at both archiveofourown and . There will be some hanky panky scenes that will be edited out at to keep it pg-13, as well as some curse words as well. Please enjoy, and let me know what you think!

"Daddy, why can't I go to the pool today? All the other kids from my school are going!"

8-year-old Lisbeth pouted, stomping her foot. Joey rolled his eyes, kneeling down to look his daughter in the eye.

"You know I have to work tonight and I can't take you sweetie. I know you want to be with you're friends but I don't want you getting hurt."

He eyed his daughter, taking in how skinny she still looked. Lisbeth was average height for her age, but her arms and legs looked so thin that Joey was often surprised that she didn't break just by walking. Lisbeth had been lucky to escape many of the health problems that premies faced, only to be diagnosed several months ago with Type 1 Diabetes.

She had lost a ton of weight in a short period of time which had sent Joey into a spiral. Her diagnosis had done little to calm his nerves, serving to remind him of all the health issues that she had inherited through his side of the family.

Then there was her mother... Joey shook his head, chasing away that thought. No need to bring up that pain again.

"If you won't let me go, I'm going to call dad and he'll let me go!"

Lisbeth shouted, running off. Joey pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes and sighing. Being married to a rich CEO had many perks- Being able to afford the best care for his daughter was one of them- but Joey had under estimated how much of a push over Kaiba would be.

Lisbeth would bat her eyes and Kaiba would go running off to get her whatever she wanted. Worse, if for some reason Kaiba couldn't get it for her quick enough, you could bet Uncle Mokuba would have it. The child was spoiled, there was no doubt about it.

He silently followed his baby girl to the office, where she had already turned on the computer and Skyped Kaiba.

"-be there. I'll be the only one of my friends who isn't! Can't you come home early just this once today please dad?"

Joey watched as her violet eyes filled up with fake tears, chin quivering just a bit as she a waited a response. He heard a long sigh, then the words he was dreading.

"Put you daddy on OK sweetheart?"

The response was instant, Lisbeth's face going from sad and depressed to happy as a clam so quick Joey thought she might get whiplash.

"I'll get him for you dad!"

She cheered, jumping off the chair and almost running into her daddy, looking up at him with a triumphant smirk as she left the room. Joey groaned, sinking into the desk and glaring at his husband with annoyance.

"You need to stop being such a push over Kaiba, the kid needs boundaries."

"She needs a chance to be a kid Joseph. She's only 8, let her have fun."

"She needs discipline! You saw her last report card I don't want her to be like me, barely scraping by at school... being labeled a loser and an idiot because nobody ever told her no."

Joey blinked back his own real tears, not wanting his husband to see how upset he was about this. Instead he twisted around his wedding band, white gold and black ebony twisted together and around a blue sapphire and red ruby.

Kaiba watched him, his hand going to his matching band. The blue-eyed man sighed, knowing that he needed to concede in this discussion.

"I know you're worried about her Joey. I just can't help but think about how she's the same age I was when I lost my parents. I don't have a lot of memories with them because they were always busy and I

never got to do anything fun with my friends."

Joey held up a hand, shaking his head.

"I know, she's the same age I was when my parents split up and I lost my sister, but I don't let that fact get into my head so she can manipulate me. You're the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company and you let an 8 year old walk all over you."

"Well, she is my daughter, and she's going to learn how to be a master manipulator from the best there is."

Kaiba grinned, looking over at the side of his computer.

"How about we make up a compromise? I'll leave work early to take her swimming, but only if she helps you get ready for your meeting. That way she's not getting away with everything."

Joey sighed, thinking it over.

"I guess that would be ok. She can help me make the posters for the car wash."

"Alright, you go give her the good news. I have a few things to finish up around here then I'll be home to collect her."

Joey nodded, smiling gently at his husband.

"Look on the bright side Joey. Maybe the swimming will tire her out and she'll go to bed early so we can have our own play time."

Kaiba winked at Joey suggestively before cutting their feed, leaving Joey blushing like a school girl with a crush.

"You'd think after 7 years I would be used to it."

He muttered, getting to his feet to go give his daughter the good news.

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Yugi looked up as the door to the Game Shop opened.

"Hey Joey what's going on?"

He waved at his best friend, smiling in the way only Yugi could.

"Hey Yug' I heard you were back in town for the week so I decided to come visit."

After finishing with college, Yugi had accepted a position with Industrial Illusions as a game marker. Kaiba had been furious, having wanted to pull Yugi away from his hated enemy Pegasus by giving him a job at Kaiba Corp.

Instead, he had hired Yami, after going through some legal hoops to make the three former darks legal citizens. It was amazing what a little bit of cash in the right pocket would do. Yugi and Yami were together but not together, both of them trying to keep up with crazy schedules that they never really took the time to sit down and figure out their life. Right now since Yugi was in town they were on again, and Yugi just beamed happiness.

"We just got in some new cards yesterday. I saved a few packs for you to look at, not that you need help getting the new cards anymore."

Joey just laughed. Even with Kaiba Corps vast resources at his fingertips, he still prefered to get all of his supplies at the Game Shop. It was his home, and if it hadn't been for Yugi's grandpa he probably would never have learned how to play Duel Monsters, and he definitely would never have married Seto Kaiba.

"Sweet! I've been looking for something to spice up my deck. Gotta keep Kaiba on his toes or he'd never forgive me."

Yugi rolled his eyes. Kaiba had finally beaten Yami once on a card he had borrowed from Joey's deck. Even though Kaiba hated all of Joey's chance cards, he had taken it, mostly to shut the blond up, and had shocked everyone when he actually won the duel. Of course, now he was insufferable, refusing to play Yami ever again lest his win be proven a fluke. Joey picked up a pack, flipping it over and reading the inscription.

"These cards look pretty sweet Yug'. I'll take 2 packs, and did Gramps get in that card I asked him to look for?"

Yugi nodded, smiling.

"It came in last night, let me go get him I know he wants to be the one to give it too you!"

Yugi disappeared into the house, returning a few minutes later with Yami.

"Gramps will be right out, he locked it up last night so nothing would happen to it."

Joey nodded before greeting Yami.

"Hey Pharaoh, you're looking good! I trust Kaiba isn't being a complete jerk to you"

"Not since we had our last duel, I think he's finally at peace with himself, which is a wonderful thing to

be."

Yami said, gracefully sitting in a chair. Joey studied the former monarch carefully for a moment before smiling.

"How are things between the two of you? Kaiba barely talks about anything besides Lisbeth anymore, I have to beg him to stop before we have any meetings."

Joey shrugged before smiling.

"She's the most important woman in his life, it's a good thing I'm not female or I might be jealous of her!"

The three men chuckled, enjoying the easy comrade that comes with years of friendship. Once they relaxed a bit Joey turned towards Yugi.

"So when are we going out? You're only here for a few days we gotta get the gang together!"

"If you guys want too... we don't have to have a big party every time I come home, I'm not that special you know."

"Nonsense. You're a wonderful person Yugi, and the best grandson I could have ever hoped to have. I'm lucky to have you."

Solomon's voice interrupted them, smiling at the group in front of him.

"You boys should go out and have a little fun, you get old too fast then everything you used to love ends up hurting you."

The old man said touching his back. Years of pain had made it so he could only stand for a little while before his back would seize up on him. It had forced him to hire an extra helper to come in and do all the heavy lifting, something that bothered Yugi a great deal.

"Grandpa, I came home to help you out with a few things... I'm sure my friends wouldn't mind not hanging out with me."

"Yugi, don't make me throw you out of here. Yami has been more than helpful, and the shipment is almost done for the week. Make your plans, I'll be fine I promise."

He turned to Joey then, clapping his hands together in anticipation.

"Now then, I believe I have a card for you somewhere."

He headed back behind the counter, pulling out a small box and unlocking it. He pulled it out, handing it to Joey with a smile.

"Here it is the Red Eyes Baby Dragon."

Joey smiled as he cradled his new card. Ever since Joey and Kaiba's relationship had been made public, there had been a rarity of any kind of Red Eyes card. People paid well into the thousands for one of them, much like Yugi's Dark Magician or the price of Kaiba's Blue Eye's if the man would ever part with one.

"That card is perfect for you Joey. A combination of two of your most faithful monsters who have been with you since the beginning."

Yami commented, his deep voice tweeked with happiness. Joey nodded, smiling at the card lovingly stroking it.

"I'm going to have to practice with this a bit, but how about a duel later once I get used to it Yami? Just for fun of course."

Yami agreed, smiling. Joey turned back to Yugi, still determined to get him to agree to do something with everyone.

"How about we all meet at my place on Friday? That way the kids can all come see you too... Lisbeth has been dying to show you how good she's getting at that new game you gave her."

Yugi sighed before nodded yes. He knew he would be unable to discourage Joey from his plans, so the best thing to do would be to go with the flow and hope that it wouldn't get to out of control.

He glanced over at Yami, only to find his not-boyfriend already deep into a strategy conversation with Joey over how best to use his new cards. He sighed before turning and helping Grandpa, who was attempting to pull down yet another heavy box stored over his head.

" _And he wonders why I don't like leaving him alone."_


	2. Chapter 2

A/N:Please forgive my poor attempt at dueling but at least I'm trying. Anyway enjoy this next chapter and please review!

"I summon my new card Red Eyes Baby Dragon, which has 1200 attack points."

"Bad move Joey, Slifer attacks, destroying your monster and taking 800 points with it."

Yami stated calmly, watching as his opponents life points counter went down, settling at 100 versus Yami's 200.

"Nah Yami, I've got this. You see, my cards special ability allows me to summon my Red Eyes Black Dragon."

"Slifer, attack, and drain Joey's Red Eyes of attack points."

Yami looked over at Joey, smiling.

"Well, so far I'm not really impressed with this strategy Joey."

Joey laughed, flipping over two cards in quick succession. "Well, how about this. I equip Dragon Nails and Dragons Breath to my hand, giving my beast an additional 1600 attack points bringing it up to 2000. Plus, I activate my Red Eyes Baby Dragon's special ability to give my dragon 300 more points, bringing him up too 2300 attack points. Red Eyes, attack Slifer and take away the rest of Yami's life points."

Yami held his arms up, feeling the heat from Joey's attack. Since he only had 2 cards in his hand, Red Eyes quickly disposed of Slifer, leaving Yami defeated. Joey eyed the card Yami still had on the field, knowing his friend had not played it so Joey could have the victory. He smiled, jumping off the poduim and kissing his daughter, who was giggling like mad.

He shook hands with Yami, giving the man a pointed stare. They had made a bet earlier, and now that Yami had lost, it was time to pay up and deal with the consequences. Joey smirked at him, turning to high-five Yugi and wrap his best friend in a bear hug. Yami nodded once at Joey before taking Yugi by the hand.

"May I speak to you for a minute Aibou?"

Yugi smiled and nodded, allowing Yami to take him into another room. Tristan watched them go then turned back to his friend.

"Do you think he's actually gonna do it?"

He whispered and Joey shrugged.

"That was the deal, so let's see what happens."

Joey gathered up his deck before kissing Lisbeth again, the young girl looking up at him, cheering him on just like her mother used too.

"How about we order pizza now sweetie? Your dad and Uncle Mokuba can pick it up on their way home."

Lisbeth cheered, then rattled off her order.

"Alright, alright, let me call and I'll be right back.!"

Joey pulled out his phone, leaving the dueling room and quickly placing their order. He then texted his husband, who was gathering his things to leave. Wanting to pull out a book he had found for Duke, he entered into the library next door where a passive looking Pharaoh was sitting.

"Well?"

He questioned, smiling.

"He punched me in the face and told me to go... well do something to myself."

Yami replied, looking devastated.

"You're kidding!"

Joey said, sitting next to the other duelist on the couch.

"Yea, he figured out that you betted me to ask him, and he was not happy about it."

Joey sighed, leaning back.

"He does know that you let me win so you would lose the bet right? I would think he would find that very romantic."

Yami snorted, leaning back himself.

"I guess he takes his card games very seriously."

Joey opened his mouth again, only to be hit in the face by a hard pillow.

"Ow! What was that for?"

Joey shouted, holding his nose and turning to look at his ticked off best friend.

"That's for waging a bet on my feelings you jerk! How dare you two try to decide my future on the outcome of a freaking card game! Isn't that how I lost Yami in the first place?"

Joey winced, trying to focus on the shorter duelist.

"Sorry Yug' I guess I didn't think about it like that... I was just trying to get Yami to ask you already, he's been holding on to that ring forever I thought it was time. I thought he would make you happy is all."

"Of course he makes me happy, and of course I''m going to marry him, but I don't need you-"

"Are you saying Yes?"

Yami interrupted, looking hopefully at the younger boy.

"Yes I'm saying Yes! What ever made you think that I wouldn't have?"

Yugi said, turning and glaring at his partner. Yami pulled him onto his lap, wrapping his arms around Yugi and kissing him deeply. Joey sighed, watching the two of them slobber all over each other for a minute.

"Alright guys, as happy as I am for you, we have a lot of work to do and people to tell. How about I get everyone settled and you two can make your big announcement."

"Yea Yami, and this time don't mess it up!"

Yugi stated seriously, kissing his fiance once again. Joey rolled his eyes, leaving to escort all his friends into the dining room.

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"I'm really glad Joey and Kaiba have a huge place or we would never fit in here."

Duke joked, settling his six-year old son at the kids table. Dmitri looked up at his dad before taking his little sister Linden by the hand. Duke and Tristan had adopted them both 2 years ago, young orphans who's parents had been recently killed.

Kaiba had personally vouched for them at the orphanage, allowing the paperwork to go through quickly. The two kids were quiet, often not speaking for hours at a time. Lisbeth had made it her personal mission to bring them out of their shells with little success.

Tonight though, they both smiled at the thought of pizza, and Dmitri had even engaged in a small conversation. Lisbeth took the seat on his other side, smiling as Tea settled her 4 year old twins next to them.

Zora and Zanna, two little girls who inherited their father's snowy locks and their mothers bright blue eyes. After several years of dancing, and a constant on-off again relationship, Tea had appeared in Domino one day with a torn ligament and broken wrist and a pregnant belly.

Ryou had been ecstatic, while Bakura not so much, the former thief had hoped to keep the young woman away long enough to finally convince Ryou to be with him instead. To everyone's surprise, Tea had firmly put the Tomb Robber in his place, placing a hand on her belly and announcing that she wanted to marry the father of her children.

Bakura had fled, leaving for Egypt for months. When he did return Tea forced him to stay with her and Ryou, placing one of her and Ryou's twins in his arms and asking him if he could possibly love her the way he did Ryou. Bakura had agreed, settling in with his light and his light's wife, filling a hole the three of them never knew was even there.

For now, though, Tea placed a hand on her slightly swollen belly, smiling at her husband as he pulled a seat out for her, Bakura settling in on her other side, taking the time to gently touch her baby bump. Serenity was there too, laughing and talking as she sat arm in arm with her new boyfriend, Logan.

Joey had severely disapproved of him, not that he didn't disapprove of any man she had dated before

him either.

"I know right, I guess that's the perks of dating a rich man."

Duke commented, winking in amusement. Tristan smiled and kissed his husband, then kissed both of his children on top of their heads.

"Jeez, it's loud in here." J

oey commented as he entered the room, blowing a kiss at his daughter.

"Yea well, that's what happens when you place several hungry children in a room, promise them pizza, then make them wait."

Ryou commented dryly, smiling at his friend.

"Yea, well, Kaiba and Mokuba should be here shortly, then we can eat! I'm gonna wait by the door so I can help them."

Joey winked at his friends before departing.

"Yea, I'm sure you're gonna help them... help Kaiba by sucking his face off is more likely."

Tristan muttered, listening to Duke and Serenity giggle on either side of him.

"I heard that!"

Joey shouted, poking his head back in.

"You keep that attitude up Tris' you'll be eating salad!"

Joey waited by the front door, slowly counting the minutes. He watched as Kaiba's car came up the long driveway and park, both brothers exiting and pulling out a couple of take out boxes. Joey opened the door, waving at his husband and brother-in-law.

"Took you guys long enough, I've got a lot of starving people in here waiting for you guys."

Joey took a bag from Mokuba before kissing his husband on the cheek. Kaiba smiled at him, juggling the pizza boxes so he could give the blond a proper kiss.

"Gross. C'mon you two I'm starving and I bet the others are too!"

Mokuba pushed past the couple and walked towards the dining room, grinning widely at the cheers that went up as people saw him carrying in the food. Joey smiled as he watched the younger boy disappear.

"He's made a good point Kaiba. Let's get going!"

Joey followed Mokuba's footsteps into the dining room, Kaiba close behind him. Once everyone was settled, Joey pulled out his phone and discretely texted the two Game Kings waiting to make their big announcement. Yami and Yugi appeared a few minutes lately, smiling sheepishly.

"Where have you two been? Bumping uglies at Kaiba's?"

Tristan teased his good friends.

"Tristan!"

Tea yelled, reaching across the table to smack her friends hand.

"There are children present."

Tristan yanked his hand away, smiling sheepishly. Yugi shook his head at his friends, smiling. He turned and looked at Yami before asking

"You want to tell them or do you want me too?"

Yami grinned and grabbed his light's hand.

"I've finally gotten Yugi to agree to settle down and marry me. We're engaged!"

Tea squeaked as she clumsily got up from her chair, wanting to be the first to hug her friends. The rest of the gang followed except for Kaiba, who disappeared from the room without a word, his husbands worried eyes following him.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thanks to Fireking492 for following and making this a favorite! There's a tad bit of editing in this chapter to keep it pg-13, so if you'd like to read the unedited version please go to ArchiveOfOurown. Same pen name, same story name. Read and Review!

 _The first real fight they had after they had gotten married had been an all out brawl. Kaiba had come home from work, tired and stress out. He called out for his husband and daughter, surprised at the silence. He called Joey's cell, only for it to go straight to voicemail. The blue-eyed CEO began to panic, worried that something had happened to them._

 _He took the stairs two at a time, running into Lisbeth's room, noting that nothing had been obviously taken. His frown deepened as he walked into his own bedroom, stopping short as he saw the mess on the bed._

 _Kaiba walked closer, face paling as he realized what it was-his old musings on his feelings for the Pharaoh, ranging from the burying his body in the desert to the claiming his dominance in the bedroom._

 _Joey had been going through some old papers, cleaning out a room for Lisbeth's playroom. Obviously he had stumbled onto something he wasn't suppose to see, and had taken his daughter and left. Kaiba picked up his phone, debating for a second who to call first._

 _Not Yami, Joey wouldn't go to him about anything right now. Maybe Tristan, but that spiky haired idiot would probably not even let him speak to Joey. Ryou might help, but he was too polite to get into the middle of a lover's quarrel._

 _While he was debating, his feet were already taking him downstairs, ready to throw his shoes on and find his family. Just then the door slammed shut, and Kaiba ran down the last few stairs to find Joey standing in the foyer, toeing off his shoes and hanging up his jacket. He ignored Kaiba as he threw his keys in the bowl by the door and walked into the kitchen to make dinner. Kaiba followed him like a lost puppy, watching as the blond began to chop chicken and boil water._

" _Where's Lisbeth?"_

 _He finally asked, not able to stand the silence anymore. Joey continued to prep, jaw clenched._

" _She is at a friends house for the night. I didn't want her to hear her parents arguing like I always had too."_

" _What are we going to be arguing about?"_

 _Kaiba questioned, hoping to distract his husband for a bit._

" _You know exactly why we are going to be arguing Kaiba. Quit being such an idiot. You lied to me! You told me you didn't have any feelings for him, you told me that you didn't care about anyone else but me."_

" _I didn't lie to you, I don't care about anyone else. I wrote all that stuff before you and I even got together!"_

" _I don't care! You're said you were in love with him! You wrote it down and placed it in a box and hid it in our house! Then, you let me find it! WHAT is WRONG WITH YoU!"_

 _Joey shouted, his voice cracking towards the end._

" _Nothing is wrong with me Joey, I wrote those so long ago I forgot about them is all..."_

 _Kaiba answered smoothly, ducking to dodge the pan Joey had thrown._

" _You need to calm down so we can talk about this Joey. I'm sorry you found those letters, I should have burned them so you wouldn't have seen them."_

 _Kaiba crossed the kitchen, attempting to gather his husband in his arms. Joey squirmed away, pushing Kaiba on his chest._

" _I'm not interested in you right now, I have dinner to make."_

 _Joey turned back to his dishes, ignoring the frown on the brunet's face._

" _Joseph, we need to talk about this. Stop worrying about dinner and look at me."_

 _Joey shook his head, refusing._

" _Why don't you call up Yami? Yugi's out of town maybe you can convince him to get together?"_

 _Joey gripped the wooden spoon, trying to fight the urge to throw the boiling water at the taller man who was way too close._

" _Is this really what you want Kaiba? I'm not the Pharaoh- I don't look good in leather pants and I certainly didn't beat you in Duel Monsters when we were teenagers. How do you lower yourself to be with me when I am so clearly under you, not worth your time or energy?"_

 _Joey angrily turned off the water, turning and staring at his husband with his arms crossed. Kaiba stared at him, wanting no more than to kiss Joey until he forgot all about this._

" _You know how I felt about you back then Joey. The important thing is that I'm with you now, and that we are married and happy."_

" _No Kaiba, the important thing now is that every time you walk out that door to go to work, I'm gonna wonder what kind of fantasies you're having about Yami."_

 _Joey said sadly, turning back to the over._

" _You need to leave, I can't look at you right now."_

 _Kaiba sighed, kissing his husband's blond hair softly before leaving the kitchen._

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"Ok Lisbeth, before you eat I have to give you your insulin."

Joey said, smiling at his young daughter.

"Yes daddy."

She said, frowning as she followed Joey into the kitchen.

"OK honey, give me your arm."

Joey said, giving the girl a quick shot. He then kissed his daughter, smiling down at her.

"OK, you need to wait a few minutes before you eat, and you know if you start to feel dizzy or

anything to let me know as soon as possible."

Lisbeth nodded, having gotten this lecture every day since her diagnoses.

"Can we go back out now please daddy? I wanna eat my pizza."

Joey nodded, patting his daughter on the arm.

"Don't forget, you can only have one piece and you need to eat a salad with it too."

He reminded her, watching as the little girl frowned in annoyance. However, she knew the consequences of eating badly, and did not want a repeat of the horrible fight her dads had gotten into when they realized how sick she really was.

Instead, she bounced back into the dining room, taking her seat and smiling at her Aunt Serenity who had already placed a salad and slice of pizza at her plate. Serenity leaned down to kiss her niece, marveling silently at how much she was starting to look like her mother. 

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 _Joey looked down at his plate, not wanting to engage Kaiba in any sort of conversation. Mokuba looked back and forth between his brother and brother-in-law, not sure of what to say to either of them. He tapped his fork on the table, trying to think of something. Finally he looked over at his brother, deciding that work was a safe subject._

" _So, I was looking over the plans for Kaiba Land America, and I was thinking that we should build one on each coast and one in the mid-west. That way people would be close to one no matter where they are, and we can host more tournaments during the year."_

 _Kaiba nodded, still not speaking. Joey chewed his dinner silently, glaring at his plate while ignoring both the Kaiba brothers._

" _I went over the plans with several of the board members, and they all agree that it was the best plan of action."_

 _Mokuba continued, twirling pasta onto his fork._

" _I was talking to Yami, and he suggested-"_

 _Joey threw his fork down on his plate, wiping his mouth off quickly before excusing himself from the table, taking his plate with him. Kaiba stared down at his own plate, closing his eyes, kicking himself for not getting rid of those papers before Joey moved in._

 _Mokuba watched Joey leave, his gray eyes staring at the retreating blond. He turned to his brother, his eyebrows raised so high they were buried in his hair._

" _Is there something I should know about Seto? I haven't seen Joey that pissed at you since you two got married."_

" _It's nothing Mokuba, he's just stressed out about something."_

 _Kaiba said, putting down his own fork and wiping his mouth."_

" _It's not nothing Seto, he sent Lisbeth away for the night, he's never done that before, no matter how bad things get between you two."_

 _Mokuba stated, starting to get himself stressed. Things had been so good lately, he was scared about anything that could upset that balance._

" _I told you things were fine Mokuba. Don't worry, he'll be fine in a bit we just need to give him his space."_

 _Kaiba told him firmly, taking his own dish and bringing it into the kitchen, leaving Mokuba sitting at the table frowning._

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After everyone finished dinner, Joey decided to bring Kaiba something to eat. He balanced the plate and glass in his one hand, leaving the other one free to knock on his husbands door.

"Come in."

He heard, and opened the door. It was dark in the room, the only light coming from Kaiba's computer, the curtains pulled tightly shut so none of the last sunbeams of the day could get in.

"You left the party early Kaiba. I brought you some pizza."

Joey said, holding up the plate in his hand.

"Not hungry."

Kaiba said, his eyes never leaving the computer screen.

"Don't care, you need to eat something right now or I'm going to make you eat it."

Joey said firmly, placing the plate and cup on the desk. Kaiba eyed them for half a second before continuing his typing, causing the blond to frown.

"Kaiba, if you don't stop right now you'll have to find somewhere else to sleep for awhile."

Joey told him firmly, which finally got Kaiba to stop. He knew Joey was serious, having been on the receiving end of that particular punishment before. He reached for the pizza, looking over at his husband carefully. Joey refused to make eye contact with him, instead choosing to pace around the room.

"Is something on your mind Joseph?"

He asked, arching an eyebrow in curiosity

"You know exactly what's on my mind husband."

Joey spat back, turning around to glare at the taller man.

"Why did you leave after Yugi and Yami announced their engagement? You jealous or something? Thinking about how you had to settle with that third-rate duelist and Yugi got the real prize."

Kaiba help up a hand, wincing as the blond's words hit a little too close for home.

"Please Joey, stop. That is ridiculous."

Joey's eyes narrowed, realizing that he had indeed hit a nerve for the brunet. Even after 6 years of marriage, he really did still carry a candle for the other man.

"You are pathetic. You waltz around your office all day acting like you're the big important CEO, and that your time is too precious for anyone when you are actually pining away for one of your own employees. Too bad you got stuck with his loser friend and his loser friend's kid instead of the one that you really wanted."

Joey turned, opening the door and looking back at his husband with contempt.

"It's not too late to fix your mistakes Kaiba. They aren't married yet why don't you run and beg Yami to give you a chance?"

He slammed the door, not caring that the sound was echoing down the hall towards his daughter's playroom, where she was busy playing an 'epic game of Duel Monsters' with the other kids.

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 _Several weeks went by before Joey would speak to his husband again. Their communications for the time went through Mokuba, who was getting annoyed with having to constantly be their go between. During that time, Kaiba felt his old demons start to resurface, and sometimes when he looked in the mirror, he thought he saw a flash of... something. He tried to push it back down, tried to ignore the feelings of anger and power hunger that he had beaten so long ago, but it was all in vain._

 _Finally, one day he couldn't stand it no more. Coming home after a long day of work he stood outside his husband's room with three packets of paper. He banged on the door, waiting impatiently until Joey let him in. Strolling into the room he threw one of the packets on the bed in front of the other duelist and waited while Joey looked at it._

" _What the hell is this?"_

 _Joey asked, looking up at Kaiba in confusion._

" _I've decided to give you want you think you want. Since you can't trust me anymore, we might as well get divorced and move on with our lives."_

 _Joey blinked, looking up at his husband in confusion._

" _You want to divorce me?"_

 _He asked hoarsely, locking his amber eyes with Kaiba's blue._

" _No, but since you've chosen to emotionally abandon me I figured this is the best path to go on. Now, sign it so we can finish this quickly."_

" _Is that what you see our relationship as? Just something to finish up quickly?"_

 _Joey asked sharply, glaring at the brunet in anger._

" _Isn't that what all relationships are in the end? People always end up leave you so why bother getting emotionally involved with anybody?"_

 _Kaiba asked him coldly, blue eyes ice cold. Joey couldn't stop himself. All his pent up anger released itself into a right hook right in Kaiba's face. Kaiba struck back, pushing Joey into the wall behind him. That started their all out brawl, Joey's punches landing while Kaiba attempted to over power him with his height and strenght._

 _Finally they stopped, Joey on top while Kaiba had one leg wrapped around him, pulling them close together. Joey winced, trying to ignore the fact that he realized wished they had landed on the bed. He instead choose to look at Kaiba, trying to read his mind._

" _Do you really want to divorce me? Do you really not love me anymore?"_

 _He asked quietly, look at the brunet sadly. Kaiba looked away, staring at the ceiling._

" _I can't afford to have any more weakness. If you can't trust me, you'll leave me eventually, and I can't let that happen."_

 _Joey pressed his lips to his husbands, knowing the pain that the older man had gone through during his younger years._

" _I understand what you are saying Kaiba, but my feelings matter too. I can't trust you with him, not after knowing how you've felt about him."_

" _I trusted you knowing how you still feel about Mai. Even after all these years, you still have feelings_

 _for her. How can you punish me for something you still feel yourself."_

 _Joey sighed, knowing he was right._

" _Fine. Just remember, I at least was honest with you."_

 _He said, looking at his husband sternly._

" _Yes Joseph."_

 _Kaiba said, smirking up at the blond._

" _So, how about we finish making up in the bedroom?"_

 _He suggested, winking. Joey quickly got up, pulling up the brunet with him and following him back to the master room. Hours later, Kaiba was asleep, leaving Joey sitting there looking out the window. He gently stroke through the other man's hair, enjoying the feeling of his silky strands falling through Joey's calloused hands._

 _Mai was on his mind, not for the first time recently. He wondered where she was, how she was doing, if she ever thought of him and the daughter she had left behind. Sometimes when he was asleep he could still smell her perfume, the light lavender scent bringing him back to his first love, the woman whom he had wanted to spend the rest of his life with._

 _A few tears leaked out of his eyes and he quickly wiped them away, laying back down and trying to go back to sleep, unaware of the strange reflection in the mirror watching his every move._


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: This chapter does end with some (hopefully ok written) boyXboy make up sex, which has been edited out of this version. For the full version, please go to archiveofourown. Some potty words in here, but that's about it. It's going to start getting a little darker now, just a heads up!

 _This is Season 0 Kaiba (Dark Kaiba) talking_

Kaiba rubbed his eyes, more than ready to go to sleep. After Joey had slammed the door, Kaiba had decided the best thing for him to do would be to stay in his office until everyone had left and then sneak into his bedroom. Hopefully Joey would be in there, and they could hash things out before it got out of hand.

 _'Not that it matters, he just wants to be angry with you.'_

A voice whispered, causing Kaiba to twist around in his chair.

"Who's there? Mokuba is that you?"

He questioned, annoyed that he couldn't see who was talking to him.

 _'I'm not Mokuba you fool. It's me, you're other half. I've been waiting for you to open your mind back up too me, and it looks like now is the time. I've missed you.'_

"Do you actually think I believe in you? I'm just dreaming again is all."

Kaiba answered smugly, rolling his eyes.

 _'Well then, if you don't believe me, then let me demonstrate.'_

The voice answered, and Kaiba tensed waiting for a response. When nothing happened, he rolled his eyes, figuring that the voice had gone away.

Suddenly his left arm shot out, holding itself directly over the candle that had been burning on his desk. Kaiba tried to pull it back, only to realize that his body was not responding to his commands.

 _'What's the matter Kaiba? I thought this was just a dream why can't you move your arm?'_

The voice mocked him, and Kaiba watched in a panic while his arm moved closer to the flame. Odds were it wouldn't hurt him much, but he didn't want to deal with the consequences. The flame danced, the heat it was giving off slowly melting the button on his sleeve.

"Let me go."

He hissed, trying to pull his arm away yet again.

 _'Not until you listen to me. I've waited years for you to come back, you can certainly give me a few moments of your time.'_

Kaiba planted his feet, attempting to roll his chair away to move his arm. He was rewarded by falling out, the chair rolling away by itself while Kaiba smacked his face off his desk and fell to his knees, his arm in the exact spot it had started in.

His lip was bleeding, the coppery taste slowly trinkling into his mouth. His arm choose that minute to move, jerking down so the flame grazed the skin before Kaiba was finally allowed to have control over it again.

He pulled the limb towards him, rubbing his fingers over it surprised at how cold it felt. The chuckling started again and he looked around, ready to take down whatever would appear to him.

 _'You are weak Kaiba. You let that blond idiot take away every decent part of you until a useless shell was left. Leaving work early, delegating assignments, SMILING? Who are you? I'm part of you and I_

 _can't even recognize you anymore.'_

"Maybe I'm just finally happy."

Kaiba muttered, rubbing his arm some more.

 _'Don't you remember what your father told you? Happiness is the same as weakness. It's not for someone like us, someone who has the potential for greatness. Where is the Seto Kaiba who killed the man who adopted him? The one who was willing to sacrifice his own brother to gain his own company? He's just a fool now. Everyone is laughing at you behind your back, talking about how the mighty Kaiba has been brought down by a nobody.'_

Kaiba frowned, clenching his fists menacingly.

"Kaiba Corp is the number one company in the world. Nobody is calling me a fool, an idiot, or laughing at me."

He snapped, pulling himself off of the floor.

"My relationship with my husband has caused me to _reevaluate_ my priorities, and I've realized there's more to life than work."

A burst of air came from no where, hitting Kaiba in the stomach causing him to fall over again. He

gasped for breath, quickly feeling light headed.

 _'You idiot. You really think he cares that much about you? He's still in love with her, the one that he knocked up. He cries over her at night, I watch him in the mirror while you sleep. He'd leave you for her in a minute, and you need to be prepared.'_

"Prepared for what? He's not going to walk out on me, we're married."

Kaiba lost control of his left arm again, except this time it went to one of the drawers in his desk. He watched as it pulled out all the files before pulling out the false bottom and pulling out a stack of papers.

He recognized the first one-it was the divorce papers he had given Joey years ago when they had fought over Yami. The second was the papers they had drawn up when Kaiba had been given custody of Lisbeth as a third party parent.

The third one he had never seen before. It was a declaration of neglect, listing charges and allegations against Joey and Mai. He quickly glanced over the papers once, then a second time, not understanding what he was reading.

' _You need to get ready for the storm Kaiba. She's coming back, and if you're not careful she's going to take away everything you've worked for. She'll get him alone one night, spread her legs, and let him plow into her until he's forgotten all about you. He won't even have to take his ring off first.'_

The voice told him, smiling as it spoke it's poison.

 _'You should have adopted Lisbeth instead of letting them keep Mai as her mother. It doesn't matter that she signed over her rights. All she has to do is screw the right judge and they'll over turn_

 _everything that she had signed.'_

Kaiba froze, looking over the papers carefully. His biggest fear was that one day _she_ would come back, flutter her eyelashes, and take away the family he had worked so hard to put together. Maybe it would be a good idea to re-think his relationship, just in case. Kaiba pulled out a piece of paper and began to write, as a shadow of himself watched and smiled.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Several weeks pasted, and things were still cool between the two men. Kaiba ended up sleeping a few nights on the couch in his office until Lisbeth had called crying that her dad didn't love her any more. Joey had insisted that he come home and they came up with a solution, sleeping back to back, not touching or looking at each other.

That left both of them very crabby, and the lack of contact between the two was causing Kaiba to retreat deeper into himself, allowing his darker half to step in an poison his mind against his husband and their life, which in turn only made the situation worse.

Joey chased Lisbeth around the house, trying to give her an insulin shot.

"Lisbeth, you need to come over here. You know what will happen if you don't take care of yourself, c'mon baby girl."

He begged, trying to grab her arm as she skirted around him.

"I don't care! I didn't ask for this, I'm tired of being sick."

Joey sighed, shaking his head.

"I know sweetie, but you need to do it. Just remember that I'm just doing this because I love you so much. Besides, don't you want to stay over at Uncle Tristan's and Uncle Duke's tonight? They've set up a special movie night for you guys."

Lisbeth rolled her eyes before stopping and offering her father her arm. Joey quickly finished up, patting his daughter on the shoulder and letting her go. His phone rang and he winked at her.

"That's probably your dad, I called him when you took off."

Lisbeth screamed and took off again, knowing that she was going to be in trouble. Joey laughed at his daughter, watching as she ran around the room. He answered the phone, not even realizing that he didn't know the number.

"Hello?"

"Joseph? Is that you?"

"...Mai?"

A soft chuckling came through the phone line, warm and sensuous.

"You sound so surprised to hear from me Joseph... I guess it's been a long time hasn't it?"

Joey just stood there, not knowing what to say to her. Mai waited a few minutes, allowing him to process things.

"I'm sorry to spring this phone call on you like this, but I've been asked to give a victim impact statement at your father's sentencing and I wanted to talk to you before I came."

"Victim impact statement?"

Joey whispered, still not understanding what she was saying.

"Didn't they contact you? Your father is finally going to rot in hell for what he did to us, and the DA asked me to come give a statement about what I went through."

"I never heard from anyone... why would they contact you and not me?"

Joey wondered out loud.

"Well, maybe they just haven't reached out yet, the date is in 3 weeks."

Mai said, smiling to herself.

"I'm coming into town a week from Friday, I wanted to visit all our old friends and get that part of my rehab over."

"What part would that be? What kind of rehab have you been going through?"

Joey asked, concerned.

"I don't know how to tell you this Joey but... I've been going through a bit of a rough patch, I got addicted to my pain pills and I've been in and out of rehab for the past 4 years."

Joey closed his eyes, trying to block out the pain he heard in his former lover's voice.

"I really don't want to discuss this over the phone Joey. I've finally gotten to the place where I have to make amends to everyone I hurt, starting with you and... my daughter."

Joey's blood ran cold as he realized what she was saying.

"I don't know how good of an idea that is Mai, she doesn't know who you are, she doesn't remember having a mother at all."

Mai's voice came through the phone, tired and sad.

"I know Joey, I just want to see her, I've missed her so much."

She started crying, leaving Joey once again speechless. The silence between the two stretched on for a few minutes before she was able to calm herself down again.

"I know I'm asking a lot of you Joey, and I promise I won't interfere in any of your lives. If you do want to meet, I'll be at the Sky Hotel on the 17th til the 24th. I'll leave instructions at the desk to give you my room number."

Joey nodded, even though Mai couldn't see him through the phone.

"I hope to hear from you hun, I've missed you too."

Mai whispered, hanging up before Joey could answer. Joey stood there for a minute, listening to dead air. His eyes closed, the smell of Mai's perfume once again dancing in front of his nose. Her skin, so smooth in his hands as he explored her body. The little gasps she would make as he touched her and kissed her, the way she would look at him when they laid in bed together was all stored in his head, somewhere deep inside where he could pull them out when he was alone.

He gently whispered her name, realizing he would need to take a cold shower before Kaiba came home. His eyes opened, looking at his ring finger and frowning. His fingers traced over the interlocked stones, remembering the vows they had made that day, the promises to honor and cherish each other for the rest of their lives.

Suddenly, he wanted to call his husband, missing the taller man's calming presence in his life. They would make a decision together on what to do about Mai, as equal parents in their daughter's life. He pulled out his cell phone, texting Kaiba to call him as soon as possible, crossing his fingers that his husband would be able to talk about this rationally.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Are you insane? She left you, she left your daughter and you want her to come back!"

Kaiba hissed, glaring at the blond. Joey glared at his husband, crossing his arms in defiance. He had gone to drop Lisbeth off, coming home to find Kaiba pacing around the house like a mad man, having come home only to find the two blond's gone. Flustered, Joey's carefully prepared speech went out the window, leaving him to stutter through the phone call he had received earlier in the day.

"I don't want her to come back Kaiba. I just want to give myself some closure on what happened between us. She left without a word, and I want to know why."

"I know exactly what happened. She dumped her baggage all those years ago and spent the past 8

years running around doing whatever she wanted. Now she's feeling her age and she wants to come back and pick up right where she left off with you. Too bad you're married to the CEO of Kaiba Corp, it's going to be hard to carry on a little love affair with the press always around."

"What the hell are you talking about Kaiba? Why would I want to have an affair with her? I still care about her yes, but I love you you stupid idiot!"

Kaiba rolled his eyes, crossing his arms and glaring.

"You keep accusing me of passing time til I can sleep with the Pharaoh, maybe that's what you're really doing huh? Letting yourself be a rich man's play toy until your little bitch decides to come back and play, huh?"

"How dare you accuse me of not being faithful too you. I've been nothing but a good husband to you and this is how you repay me! If I did want to sleep with her, do you think that I would bother telling you that she was coming back instead of just going to see her myself? What the hell is wrong with you Kaiba?"

"Maybe I'm just being tired of being played like a fool, Wheeler. Sure you're telling me about meeting her this time, but how many times have you seen her before this? Are you using my money to hole her up in some hotel somewhere, or maybe you stash her in the pool house that you insisted on keeping as a guest house?"

Joey stared at Kaiba opened mouth, not comprehending what his husband was saying.

"You're just a worthless mutt who I should have stomped out a long time ago. Should have screwed you and dumped you like everyone else in your life did."

Joey swung at that, years of aggravation at his life coming out in a quick strike, nailing the brunet on the face. Kaiba staggered under the weight, sliding backwards and hitting his head on the wall before collapsing onto the floor. Joey shook his hand, feeling the burning sensation that came from hitting flesh. He glared down at his husband, noting the dazed look on the older man's face. He knelt down, pushing back the brunet locks as blue eyes opened, eyeing him warily.

"You need to realize that you don't have to fight for me anymore, I'm right here and you're the only person I want to be with, and I need to realize the same thing about you."

He said softly to the other man, placing his left hand over Kaiba's so their wedding rings touched. Not knowing what else to do, he pressed their lips together, stroking Kaiba's face as the brunet slowly responded to him. Joey ran his hands down the others body, reaching towards Kaiba's belt. He slowly undid it, pulling the leather piece through Kaiba's belt loops and throwing it to the side.

Kaiba moaned, closing his eyes as Joey gently thumbed over the lump in his pants. The blond grinned, looking around the room quickly to see if there was a more comfortable place to continue this.

"How about we take this back to the bedroom?"

He whispered, standing up to brush himself off and offering a hand to help Kaiba up as well, quickly pulling the brunet into their room and firmly shutting the door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Joey giggled, pinning Kaiba down on the bed.

"Are we ok?"

He asked quietly, placing his head on Kaiba's chest, listening to his heart beat slowing down. Kaiba rested his chin on top of Joey's head, smiling to himself.

"Yea, we're ok. I guess we both need to stop acting like jealous idiots all the time huh?"

He asked, kissing the top of the blond head gently. They laid there for a few minutes, basking in the after glow of connecting with someone you have a deep bond with. A thought crept back into Joey's head and he sighed, knowing that this was going to be the best time to bring this up.

"So can we talk about seeing Mai rationally or do we need to pick up our fight from where we left

off?"

Joey asked, running his hands up his husband's body before kissing him yet again. Kaiba had his eyes closed, enjoying the feeling of relinquishing control to the blond after weeks of self-loathing and cold showers.

Joey smiled, sliding off to the side of the brunet and running his hands through those silky locks. Kaiba started to fall asleep, worn out as usual. Joey glanced over at the clock, noting that it was almost 5 and he should probably start dinner.

Joey would cook a good meal, then give Kaiba a chance to vent his frustrations about Mai seeing them and hopefully they would come to some sort of agreement that would work.

He hadn't realized how badly he wanted to see the other blonde until he had heard her voice on the phone. She was always around somewhere in the back of his mind, reminding him about what life was and what it could have been- the visions of the two of them married with several kids playing around them, entering tournaments and building decks off of each others strengths.

Of course, it was too late for that now, but part of Joey would always love her, and he had to admit that so he could move on with his life.

Right now he pulled chicken out of the fridge, deciding that since Lisbeth wasn't there he would make some pasta instead of using the spaghetti squash as a special treat for the two of them. Placing the water on the stove, he let it boil while starting the Alfredo sauce and slicing the chicken.

He whistled to himself, relaxing as he pulled together a chicken Alfredo meal that Kaiba loved. Once everything was done, he tossed a quick salad, placing it on the counter while he went to see what the other man was doing. Seeing that Kaiba was still dozing, he gently roused him, telling him that dinner was almost ready before leaving to serve it.

Kaiba stood silently in the bathroom, worn out from the argument they had had before. He looked at himself at the mirror, noting how exhausted he looked. It would definitely be an early night, hopefully for both of them. He blinked, and the image in the mirror changed back to his younger, green-haired banished self.

 _'Looks like Mai's not the only whore around here. He comes to you once and you forgive him for everything huh? Your adopted father was right about you. You are just as weak and pathetic as that mutt you married."_

Kaiba shook his head, trying to dislodge the voice in his head.

"I love my husband, and I trust him completely, now leave me alone."

He snapped, glaring at the other version of himself. The image began to fade, as the green-haired younger man smiled smugly.

 _'I'm sure you think you do. It's too bad you didn't hear whose name he said in the shower this morning.'_

Kaiba glared at the mirror, not wanted to admit how much he was hurt by the thought of Joey still thinking about Mai.

 _'I have to admit, I was impressed that he managed to say your name while you guys were 'making love' after what I saw beforehand.'_

Kaiba's glare turned dark, and he lifted his hand, punching the mirror before he was able to stop himself. A dark chuckle filtered through the room as he continued punching, ignoring the blood beginning to drip down his fingers.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Wow, I really messed up my posting for this story. I've deleted the wrong chapters and now I'm adding the correct ones! Thanks for being patient with me!

Joey sat down at the table, drumming his fingers on the hard wood. It had been almost half an hour since he had woken up Kaiba to come downstairs and he was still sitting alone. Their meal was getting cold, the Alfredo sauce hardening to a gross mess.  
"He must have fallen asleep on me again."  
Joey muttered, getting up to fetch his husband. He entered their bedroom only to stop short. Kaiba was sitting on the bed, wearing only his boxers, staring at his hands as they dripped blood on the sheets. He didn't look up when Joey ran to him, bending down to look at the scratches decorating the brunet's hands and arms.  
"Kaiba? What happened?"  
He asked, running a finger over the biggest of the cuts. Kaiba stared at him, a blank, soulless look which chilled Joey to his core. Then he blinked, and the blue eyes soften.  
"I tripped and fell in the bathroom after my shower is all Joey. I'm fine."  
Joey frowned, looking over the other man quickly. He clearly had not showered, his hair was dry and there was dried blood on his shoulder from where Joey had bit him before. Plus, he was fidgeting, a sure sign that he was lying. Joey shrugged to himself, pushing his concern to the side.  
Right now, he needed to get Kaiba's hands cleaned up, and call his doctor to come over. He walked into the bathroom, he stopped short at the carnage.  
Broken glass was everywhere, toiletries were littered on the floor, and the faucet was ripped off of the sink. Not wanting to hurt himself, he closed the door, deciding to go to the other bathroom. He quickly gather supplies and brought them back into the bedroom, dropping them in front of Kaiba. He knelt down, gently cleaning the blood off so he could see the wounds.  
"I'm going to put a call in to your doctor, I don't want you to get an infection."  
"NO!"  
Kaiba snapped sharply, glaring at his husband.  
"It's just a few scratches, you don't need to treat me like I'm a child."  
He stated coldly, looking at his hands.  
"If you can't bandage these yourself then you must have wasted all that time you were in a gang."  
Joey bristled at that comment, ready to jump down the brunet's throat for bringing that up.  
"Well maybe I should join up again so I can learn how to take care of you when you decide to trash your own bathroom."  
He snapped back, yanking the hands closer so he could pour peroxide on them. Kaiba didn't even flinch as the solution bubbled on his cuts, even though Joey knew it must hurt like hell. He pulled out some tweezers, massaging Kaiba's hands to pull out the pieces of glass that he had found. Once that was done he wrapped both of Kaiba's hands, patting them gently when he was done.  
"Dinner's ready when you are. I'm going to go eat."  
He turned and left the room, leaving Kaiba staring at his hands.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What happened to your hands dad?"  
Lisbeth asked, running to Kaiba to stare at his bandages.  
"Your dad tripped and fell last night sweetie, daddy had to bandage him up."  
Joey said, kissing his daughter on the head. He turned to Tristan and smiled.  
"That's for letting Lisbeth stay over last night, I hope she wasn't any trouble."  
Tristan laughed loudly, patting his buddy on the shoulder.  
"Duke showed her how to play Dungeon Dice Monsters last night, and every time he explained a rule she said 'It's just like Duel Monsters!' She even asked him if there was a Graceful Dice character that she could play with."  
Joey chuckled, knowing how much Duke still hated having his game compared to another one. Then there was the bonus of his daughter figuring the joke out on her own.  
"Kid's say the darnest things huh? Guess I'll have to apologize to him later!"  
Lisbeth smiled from her dad's lap where she had been running her hands over the bandages.  
"Did I do something wrong daddy?"  
She asked, giving her daddy and uncle her best puppy dog eyes. Tristan laughed, bopping her on the nose playfully.  
"You're Uncle Duke is just sensitive sometimes, don't worry about it Lisbeth."  
"Yea, and he deserves a little payback from the time he put me in that dog suit!"  
Joey muttered, remembering how Yugi had to duel so he wouldn't have to wear that forever. Tristan smiled even wider, knowing exactly what the blond was thinking.  
"Well, I deliver to you a more cultured, worldly young lady. Don't screw it up."  
He wagged his finger at the couple and winked before bending down to give his niece a big hug and kiss.  
"Bye Uncle Tristan, tell Uncle Duke I want a rematch!"  
Lisbeth said sweetly, returning Tristan's affection.  
"Thank's Tris, I owe you one."  
Tristan waved it off, winking.  
"No problem Joey, it's nice that Linden has another girl to play with is all, I think sometimes there's too much male around her."  
Joey nodded, knowing what Tristan was saying. He wasn't good at a lot of the girlie stuff, that being regulated to his sister, who would take Lisbeth away sometimes to do something special.  
"Well, next time you need a night off give me a call, we have plenty of stuff to do around here, the kids would have a great time!"  
Tristan nodded, waving as he left the room. Lisbeth ran over to the window, waving frantically as her uncle backed down the driveway.  
"I take it you had fun last night."  
Joey said, running his fingers through the blond hair. Lavender eyes looked up adoringly at him, lips pulled back in a huge grin.  
"Uncle Duke is funny when he gets mad."  
She giggled, bouncing on her heels lightly.  
"Well, it's almost lunch time, can you check your blood sugar and I'll get you some yogurt and make some fish tacos?"  
Lisbeth nodded, bouncing out of the room. Joey turned towards Kaiba who was sitting silently in his chair, having not contributed to the entire conversation.  
"You can sit there and be mad all you want. I'm going to go take care of my daughter and spend some time with her. When you pull that stick out of your ass you're welcome to join us."  
He sneered, turning on his heel to march out of his husbands office.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Joey watched as Lisbeth shot him with a blue shell then snuck under the finish line just in front of him.  
"How do you keep doing that?"  
He complained, pretending to pout. Lisbeth just giggled, waving her controller around in a victory dance.  
"She must get it from her dad."  
A voice answered, and both of them looked to see Mokuba standing in the doorway.  
"Uncle Mokuba!"  
Lisbeth shouted, running over to hug her favorite person in the world.  
"I missed you so much! Did you see Uncle Malik? What about Uncle Marik? Was your trip alright? Did you get lost anywhere? Did you get me a present? How come you're back so early? Did you give Aunt Ishizu the picture I drew here? Will you play with me? How about-"  
Mokuba held up a hand, smiling at her.  
"Calm down munchkin, I can't keep all of your questions straight. How about you sit down and I'll tell you about my trip."  
Lisbeth nodded, walking back over to her daddy and holding her hand out for his controller, which was given quickly to her Uncle Mokuba. Joey shook his head, knowing that Lisbeth would choose to spend time with Mokuba over anyone.  
"Guess I've been kicked off the Mario Cart huh?"  
He muttered, backing away from the tv and plopping on the couch.  
"Sorry Joey, I don't have to play if you'd rather."  
Mokuba offered him back the controller, but Joey waved him on, wanting to watch his daughter having fun. He pulled out his phone, frowning as he saw he had a missed call from the police station.  
"I'll be right back you guys, I have to make an important phone call."  
The two on the floor nodded their heads, so wrapped up in their game already that they didn't notice him leave the room. Joey walked into the library, taping on his voicemail and listening as the Sargent gave him a personal number to call. He quickly dial, waiting until a voice answered.  
"Hello Sargent Arch, I'm sorry to bother you but I heard that my father is being sentenced in a few weeks, and I wanted to make a statement... did? When... I never saw the letter or I would have... He did? Well yes he's my husband but he You doesn't make those decisions for me... I see. Well, I appreciate your concern but I need to do this. Who do I need to talk too... can you give her my number and have her call me... thanks, I appreciate it."  
Joey hung up, honey eyes flashing in anger. He marched through the house, throwing open the door to his husband's office and slamming it.  
"How dare you tell the DA that I can't handle seeing my father again. I want to be there when he gets sentenced to rot in hell for the rest of his life. Why would you do this?"  
Kaiba's eyes narrowed, glaring at his husband. The silence hung in the air until Joey realized what the problem had been.  
"Are you serious? You're acting like this because you don't want me to see Mai? What is wrong with you?!"  
Joey yelled, glaring at Kaiba.  
"You are ridiculous! How many times are we going to fight about this before you realize that I don't want her anymore!"  
Kaiba's eyes narrowed, and before Joey could react he had the shorter blond pushed up against the wall, cutting off his air flow.  
"You sure about that mutt? You never miss her at all? Then why do I hear her name on your lips when you're asleep, huh? Why do you style my daughter's hair like her's used to be? Why are you so instant on seeing her when she comes? ANSWER ME!"  
Joey was trying not to choke at this point, clawing at Kaiba's arm in vain. Finally the brunet let go, letting Joey fall to the floor. He pulled out a set of papers and threw them on the ground at Joey's feet, snarling.  
"Sign these."  
He growled, handing Joey a pen.  
"What the hell are these?"  
Joey asked, looking over the legal papers in confusion.  
"It's a post nup. It states that if I catch you within 100 feet of that whore you lose your half of everything I own, including my daughter."  
Joey's eyes widen, then narrowed dangerously.  
"You mean my daughter. You may be her step parent but I still have custody of her."  
"You see Mai, and I go to court and tell them all about your past. A few dollars in the right pocket and I'll be granted full custody and you'll never see her again."  
Joey stood up, ready to throw a punch a the brunet but Kaiba was too fast. He kicked Joey in the crotch and dropped him on top of the papers, sitting across the blond's back and grabbing his right hand and placing the pen into it. He placed his left hand under the blond's chin, ready to cut off his air again if need be.  
"Alright, you just need to sign on the arrows... sign it... SIGN IT!"  
He yelled, and Joey did, choking back his tears. Kaiba rolled off him, pulling the paper with him and placing it in his briefcase. He didn't look back at the blond as he snapped the briefcase close and turned towards his desk.  
"Grab a bag and get out of my house. Maybe a night or two on the streets will remind you of how good you have it."  
Kaiba turned on his heel and walked back to his desk, sitting firmly on his chair.  
"Oh, and don't worry about Lisbeth. She can stay here with Mokuba and I where she will be properly taken care of."  
Joey looked at his husband blankly, reaching up to touch the bruises that were already forming on his throat.  
"I'll tell her you left, don't want to scare her now right?"  
Kaiba said, grinning at his husband.  
"You have 5 minutes before I throw you out with nothing. GO!"  
Joey backed out of the room, touching his neck as he left quickly as he could. He didn't know what to do, he couldn't leave his daughter with the man that just tried to kill him right? He glanced at his watch, hurrying towards their bedroom.  
He grabbed a dufflebag, only grabbing a few clothes. He ran into the bathroom, grabbing a few toiletries before leaving and dashing down the hall to Lisbeth's room. He grabbed a few things before leaving that room too, running as fast as he could to the game room where he could hear his daughter and Mokuba still playing.  
"Lisbeth, sweetie you need to come with daddy right now!"  
He gasped, trying to catch his breath. Mokuba and Lisbeth stared at him, fear coming over the young girls face. It was too dark in the room for them to see the bruises forming on Joey's face. Instead all they could see was Joey wide-eyed and paniced.  
"Come on sweetie, daddy needs to leave and you need to come with him."  
He said, reaching down for his daughter. Lisbeth backed up, frightened at her father's wild-eyed appearance. She looked back at her uncle who was staring open mouthed at the blond male.  
"COMe oN LisBEtH!"  
Joey tried to say, his throat starting to close up from the bruises that were forming on it.  
"No daddy I won't go with you!"  
She shouted, burying her face in Mokuba's shirt.  
"Joseph, I thought you were leaving."  
Kaiba commented, strolling into the game room himself.  
"Dad!"  
Lisbeth cried, running to the brunet to be picked up. She started crying, holding on to the man for dear life. Kaiba soothed her, smirking at the frightened blond. Joey was frozen in place, not wanting to leave without her.  
"Please, hun, daddy's going to go to Uncle Tristan's for the night, do you want to come with me?"  
He asked, reaching for his daughter one last time.  
"NO! Daddy's scary I want to stay with dad and Uncle Mokuba!"  
She yelled, squirming down from Kaiba's arms and running. Mokuba took off after her, not understanding the weird tension in the room he had just left. Kaiba watched them leave before pulling out his phone. Pressing a few buttons he played a recording of what Lisbeth had just said, watching as the blood drained from Joey's face.  
"I think I'll save this just in case. Now, I suggest you leave before I use this to help prove how unfit a parent you really are."  
Joey backed up, grabbing his bag and leaving the mansion quickly, knowing that Mokuba would protect Lisbeth until he could come up with a plan. He was about to jump into his car, when he realized that Kaiba could easily trace it. The same for his phone.  
He quickly opened it up, writing down Mokuba's number before tossing it onto the car seat. Luckily he had his own account at the bank, spending money from various jobs he used for gifts so he would feel like he wasn't just mooching off Kaiba.  
His first plan of action had to be a place to stay for the night, the second would be getting to the bank to take out some money before Kaiba tried to use his power to block the account. Now the question was- Where could he go?  
Kaiba waltzed into his bedroom, deftly pushing the pillows on Joey's side on the floor. He had spent an hour calming down Lisbeth, promising the little girl that her daddy would be back soon, he just had something important to do that had him stressed.  
Finally the little girl fell asleep, Kaiba stroking her hair. He wondered idly if she would look good as a brunette, before kissing her on the forehead. He was accosted by Mokuba as soon as he left the room, but he managed to brush the raven haired boy off.  
He settled on the bed, looking at the mirror as he ran his fingers through his brunet locks. A chunk caught his eye, and he pulled it straight up, grimancing as he realized it still reflected his natural green color.  
"Looks like I need to dye it again."  
He muttered, winking at his reflection, who looked at him in a panic.  
"Thanks for breaking that mirror Mr. Kaiba, and finally setting me free."  
He wiggled his fingers at his other half, who began to bang on the mirror and yell.  
"Don't worry my 'other self' you'll get used to wandering from mirror to mirror and realizing that there will never be anyone that cares to see you."  
He smiled before entering the bathroom, leaving the other man staring at him in shock.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Wow, it's been awhile since I've posted, started a new job and time got away from me! Once again I'd like to thank all my readers, and I hope you enjoy!

Joey finally walked up to his destination, knocking on the door and ringing the bell. Of course it had started raining, a light spring rain that had felt good for the first few minutes but now was making him feel cold and run down.  
The rain had changed his plans, turning from running to his best buddies to settling for the closest house to him. Speaking of which- The door opened and Tea's blue eyes blinked at him, surprised to see her friend on the porch.  
Looking up and down the street, she quickly moved aside, gesturing Joey inside.  
"Joseph, it's almost 10 o'clock! What are you doing roaming the streets this late! Did you get into an accident? Where is Lisbeth?"  
Joey stood there dripping wet, trying to compose himself. Tea took his appearance in before disappearing for a moment, returning with both a towel and Ryou. The white-haired man took in Joey's appearance, zoning in on the marks on Joey's neck.  
Marks he remembered far too well from back when Bakura would do the same thing to him, when he would have no problem with hurting his lighter half. Ryou looked into Joey's eyes, seeing the same scared look that Ryou used to have. He silently took Joey's bag, digging through it to see if there were any dry clothes before handing a pair of boxers and a shirt to Joey and ushering the blond into the bathroom.  
"Change into some dry clothes Joey, I'll make us some tea and we will talk."  
Joey nodded mutely, grateful to be somewhere dry and warm. Tea settled at the table while Ryou heated up some water, debating over whether or not to call Yugi. Something terrible had happened, and she wasn't sure what to do about it. Her thoughts were interrupted when Joey showed back up, toweling his hair dry.  
The blond settled at the table mutely, staring at his friend. Tea reached out, offering her hands to Joey who took them and started to cry. Tea sat there, muttering endearments at her friend as he tried to compose himself.  
"Where the hell are you guys? What's the point of having a California King bed if I'm the only one sleeping in it?"  
Bakura complained as he walked into the dining room, stopping short as he realized that they had company. Tea rolled her eyes, shaking her head at her lover. Her baby jumped at its father's voice, excited that he was in the room.  
Bakura settled next to Tea, folding his arms as he took in the blond's bruises for himself. Joey shifted once more, not sure he wanted to talk about what happened in front of someone who used to beat his friend.  
Ryou came into the room then, carrying the kettle and an extra cup. He placed the cup in front of Bakura, turning to pour tea for his wife and Joey before pouring some for his lover and himself. Ryou then walked back into the kitchen, bringing out some snacks before settling down at the table. He picked up his cup, giving Joey a 'Ready when you are' look before taking a delicate sip.  
Joey stared down at his cup, trying to decide where to start. Finally, the story started spilling out of him, coming in bits and pieces as he talked about the fight they had had the day of Yugi and Yami's engagement, which had led to another fight about Mai, which led to Joey fleeing the mansion without his daughter.  
Ryou listened in silence, looking over at Bakura who was fuming. Tea could feel the tension in theroom, attempting to make it better by grabbing Bakura by the hand but the albino jerked himself away, marching off to the back room. Ryou quickly ran off after him, leaving Tea to talk to Joey.  
"Has this been going on for a long time?"  
She asked, waving a hand vaguely at Joey's messed up face.  
"We've been fighting ever since Yami and Yugi got engaged, it dragged up a whole bunch of bad feelings for us. Then Mai called and-"  
"Wait. What do you mean that Mai called? I thought you said he brought her up because you brought up Yami? What did she want?"  
Tea interrupted him, blinking at him in surprise.  
"Well she's coming into town and she wants to see me and talk about our daughter. Apparently she's been in and out of rehab for the past few years, and she wants to come back and make amends to everyone."  
Tea sighed, her heart breaking thinking about all the things that Mai missed over the years.  
"Did you tell Kaiba you wanted to see her and he didn't agree? Is that what started the fight?"  
Joey nodded, blinking his eyes rapidly.  
"He thinks I want to sleep with her. He threatened me that he would take away everything if I even came close to her. He-he said he'd take my daughter."  
Joey clenched his fists, getting more and more irritated.  
"I tried to get her to come with me, but I was so worked up I scared her. She refused to come with me, and I had no choice but to leave."  
"That was the worst thing you could do."  
Ryou said, entering back into the dining room.  
"Leaving concedes the battle to him. He can say you voluntarily let your daughter and you don't really want her."  
Joey placed his head in his hands trying not to sob.  
"He has a strong case against you. Between your past, the fact that your father is in jail, and her mother abandoned her, he could convince a judge to grant him custody. Add in the fact that he has taken care of her since she was a baby and pays for most of her medical expenses he really looks like the perfect parent."  
Joey sunk into his chair, not knowing what to do. His head snapped up, looking around the room carefully.  
"Sorry, I thought that I heard something... it sounded like Kaiba's voice."  
Tea hmm'ed to herself, slowly getting off her chair.  
"How about we all go to bed and we can talk about this in the morning? It's close to eleven, we are not going to solve the world's problems right now."  
Joey nodded, yawning.  
"Can someone take me to the atm in the morning? I left my car and phone at the house so Kaiba couldn't trace them. I need to get in touch with Mokuba also. In the meantime, no one is to know I'm here, understand?"  
Tea nodded, wondering idly if she was still up for all this crap. Ryou helped her off the chair, indicating that Joey should follow them. The couple led Joey to the spare bedroom, telling him to get to sleep. Tea waited for Joey to close the door before turning towards her husband and raising her eyebrows in a silent question.  
"I told him that if he went after Kaiba you were going to name the baby after your mother and he freaked out."  
Ryou said seriously, causing Tea to smile. She stared down at her swollen feet for a moment, wondering how hard it must have been for Mai to go through her pregnancy without any help, how alone she must have felt.  
Tea sighed, allowed Ryou to lead her to the bedroom, where Bakura was already undressed for the night, laying in bed with his arms crossed, pouting because he wasn't able to enact justice against the former priest.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
 _Kaiba banged on the mirrors in his prison, looking at an infinite number of reflections of himself. He wanted to get out, to fix his life before things got worse. That imposter was trying to tear his family apart, and he needed to get back into his body before he succeeded._  
 _This 'other Kaiba' from the 'alternate dimension' was winning, and he needed to tip the odds in his favor. Kaiba walked around the room, passing rows and rows of mirrors, wondering how his brain could come up with a place so weird and twisted._  
 _The mirrors were all different, and he found that with enough concentration he could see through them and spy on people. After he tried a few times, he wondered if he could figure out a mirror that he could see either his brother or his husband, and have them help him._  
 _Kaiba wandered around, closing his eyes and trying to sense his family. The mirrors stretched on forever, each one reflection his own anger and frustration. He took a moment to run his fingers against one, hand carved with intricate Egyptian symbols._  
 _His heart beat faster, he vaguely remembered Yugi bringing this home after one of his many trips around the world. Maybe this would be the answer, the way to getting out of this weird dream._  
 _"Hello Kaiba-Kun, it's time to go home."_  
 _Kaiba turned, blinking in surprise at the woman in front of him. She was petite, with lilac-colored hair and a bright yellow ribbon which matched her out-dated dress._  
 _"I'm sorry, who the hell are you?"_  
 _Kaiba asked, narrowing his eyes at the young woman._  
 _"Why Kaiba-Kun, I'm Miho, your eternal servant."_  
 _Miho bowed, her dress cut to show off her ample bosom._  
 _"I have missed you my love."_  
 _She reached out, pulling Kaiba as close to her as possible, rubbing his hands all over her body. Kaiba blinked in surprise, not knowing what to do._  
 _Suddenly he looked around, realizing that he was no longer in the room of mirrors, but in a room that looked much like his own, naked and laying on a bed that felt like his own but with totally different sheets on it._  
 _Miho, or whoever she was, was currently on her knees fondling him as if they had been lovers for years. When it was over, she wiped her hands and smiled at him, pleased._  
 _"Kaiba-Kun looks very relaxed right now, Miho has done her job."_  
 _She said, getting up from the floor and walking into the bathroom to wash up. She came back, sitting next to Kaiba on the bed. He had sat up, finding his pants on the ground and putting them on quickly. Miho frowned at him, looking upset._  
 _"Have I done something to upset you Kaiba-Kun? Usually you fall asleep for awhile... and what is wrong with your hair?"_  
 _She pointed at the chestnut locks, running them through her fingers. A sense of realization came over her and she gasped, not wanting to believe it. She started shaking so badly that Kaiba reached for her, rubbing the young woman's back as she tried to calm down._  
 _"I can't believe it, I can't believe it, I can't..."_  
 _She stopped and looked at Kaiba, tears running down her cheeks._  
 _"You shouldn't be here."_


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Italics are scenes with the 'other world' in it. Read and review!

Joey opened his eyes, surprised that he had been able to sleep at all. He turned over and looked at the clock before sitting up in alarm. It was almost 9, and he had to get moving. He jumped up, looking in the mirror to see that the bruises were not as harsh in the morning light. He didn't want to scare the girls when he went to breakfast.  
Throwing on a shirt, he left the guest room, silently walking down the hall towards the dining room. Hushed whispers met his ears, and he frowned, knowing that they were talking about his situation with his husband.  
Walking in the room, he gently hugged Tea, who was wrapped up in an old robe and drinking orange juice. Ryou was next to her, eating his own breakfast. They both looked at Joey guiltily, glancing at each other before going back to what they were doing.  
"Where's Bakura?"  
"He's in the kitchen making some more pancakes, Tea's extra hungry today."  
Ryou said, smiling at his wife who beamed back.  
"Hey, I spent years starving myself for dance, I'm just trying to make up for lost time."  
Tea said, patting her belly and smiling. She placed a hand over Joey's, blue eyes looking at her friend in concern.  
"How did you sleep last night? You look a lot better than you did when you showed up."  
"Surprisingly well actually. I only woke up once."  
Ryou looked embarrassed, picking up his plate and walking quickly into the kitchen. Joey watched him leave, slowly realizing what he did.  
"He drugged my tea last night didn't he?"  
He asked Tea, who nodded.  
"He just didn't want you doing anything stupid like showing up at the house and trying to get your daughter. We need to come up with a plan first."  
Joey nodded, watching as Ryou walked back in with a huge stack of pancakes. He tossed some on his wife's plate first, then put several on the plate in front of Joey. The blond grinned, happy that he didn't have to cook for once. Bakura walked out then, carrying juice and followed by Yami who was carrying plates and silverware.  
"What are you doing here?"  
Joey asked, narrowing his eyes slightly at the other Egyptian.  
"I've come to help Joey. You need some back up right now."  
Yami said, sitting down next to the blond and serving himself. Joey looked over at his friends in annoyance, eyes blazing.  
"I didn't want everyone getting involved yet, not until I knew what my next steps were. Plus, didn't you think that Kaiba would be watching the Game Shop, and he would notice if Bakura showed up early in the morning and dragged Yami away?"  
The two Egyptians help up their hands, looking at each other to take the blame.  
"I didn't go get Yami, I just... brought him here."  
Bakura said, casually cutting into his own breakfast.  
"What the hell are you talking about?"  
Joey shouted, making fists under the table.  
"Well my... powers have diminished over the years, but I can still summon someone to me if I concentrate hard enough."  
Bakura said idily, winking at Yami who rolled his eyes.  
"So I did, and well, here he is.  
"Joey frowned, not knowing what to say. Tea sighed, rubbing her belly in agitation.  
"So, what are we going to do? Obviously Kaiba is out of his mind to think that Joey would just give up Lisbeth to him, so what is our next step?"  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
 _Miho finally gained control of herself, getting off the bed to pace around._  
 _"I can't believe it, he actually did it."_  
 _She muttered to herself, shaking her head. Kaiba watched her go back and forth, frowning. He needed answers, and right now she was the only one who could give them to him._  
 _"You don't recognize me do you?"_  
 _Miho asked quietly, looking over Kaiba carefully. He gave her a look, which she obviously took the way he intended._  
 _"Do you remember the other world you entered back when you were a teenager to get back your friends? I am the girl who helped your other self kidnap people because I wanted a chance to be a part of your story. I have been stuck in this world where no one cares about me at all, with your other self trying to get out."_  
 _Kaiba rolled his eyes, not believing he was trapped in another ridiculous fantasy._  
 _"So what, you dated this 'other me' in hopes that he would give you a better life? Don't you know that I'm gay?"_  
 _Miho frowned, looking down on the floor. She twirled a simple golden ring on her finger, which caught Kaiba's eye._  
 _"Don't tell me that we are married."_  
 _He snapped, looking down at his own hand in relief when he saw his own wedding band from Joey. Miho refused to meet his eyes, continuously twirling her ring._  
 _"Kaiba-kun, my husband is Honda. We married several years ago right before the... accident. He was paralyzed from the waist down, and we couldn't make ends meet. I took a job here, in your household, and you offered me extra money to... take care of you."_  
 _Kaiba looked at her, not understanding what she was saying._  
 _"Why would I need you to 'take care of me?' And who is Honda? Where is Joey? What about Mokuba? Or Yugi? Or-"_  
 _Miho held up a hand, trying to stop the other man's rant._  
 _"Please, I will tell you everything I know just give me a little bit of time."_  
 _She got up, walking over to her purse and pulling out a picture. She walked it over to Kaiba, settling back on the bed. Kaiba was staring at his husband and their friends, only slightly different. They all looked more tired, older, and sharper, as if life had put them through hell and back. Miho pointed to one man, smiling before pointing to the next person._  
 _"That's Honda, my husband, and his best friend Jounouchi, and Yugi, and Ryou and Anzu. This was taken right after graduation, before we all split up for new adventures."_  
 _Kaiba stared at the picture, trying to understand what she was saying._  
 _"Alright, then where is Jounouchi? He's still my husband right? And my brother is he ok?"_  
 _Miho touched him on the shoulder, frowning slightly._  
 _"Kaiba, I don't know how to tell you this, but, they're both gone."_  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
Joey strolled into the bank, walking up to the teller and smiling."Hi, I need to speak to the manager please.  
"Luckily, she knew him well, and immediately summoned over her manager, who escorted him into a room."  
I trust that you can keep our conversation discrete.  
"Joey said, sitting down with the older man who quickly offered him some tea.  
"Of course Mr. Kaiba, you can trust me with anything."  
"Something has come up, and I need to withdraw as much money as possible from my account today if possible. If not, I need it transferred into a new account, and close my old one."  
The bank manager looked over at him in shock. While not a huge account compared to the Kaiba fortune, Joey had almost 200,000 in his name, and to take that all out at once was not going to be possible, they simply did not have that much cash.  
"Mr. Kaiba, have we done something to offend you that you need to take out all your money so quickly?"  
He asked carefully, leaning forward to offer the blond a snack. Joey sighed, knowing he would need a cover story.  
"Some old debts of my father's have come out of the wood work, and I just want to settle them and get on with my life. I want a new account because I need to make absolutely certain that no one knows my account information except for me. I will be taking my husband off it, he is to know nothing about it do you understand?"  
The manager nodded, standing up to shake Joey's hand.  
"Let me get the paperwork, I hope you have some time."  
He said, leaving the room while Joey sunk back into his chair and sighed deeply. He looked around the room before his eyes settled on a mirror, hanging on the wall. It was smeared, as if a child had run their hands down it and no one bothered to clean it.  
He felt as if someone was calling him from the mirror, and he shook his head, smiling as the bank manager came back with paperwork and handed it to him.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
 _Kaiba blinked, trying to hold back the emotions he was feeling. He clenched his fists, trying to wrap his head around what is happening. Miho watched him, trying to figure out how to tell him about the two most important people in his life._  
 _"Mokuba left about 2 years ago. He was tired of the constant abuse he suffered under you, how you never let go of being beaten in a game and your obsession with getting rid of the Pharaoh and Yugi. He calls once in awhile, just to check in, but you always hand up after a few minutes. Jounouchi... he's here but he's really sick. You see, a few years ago he was attacked by a gang who his father owed money to. They put him in the hospital, where you went to him and offered him a deal- marriage in exchange for paying off his debts. He agreed, but he was miserable. You two fought all the time, and Joey would often show up at his friends' houses with bruises. One time he had a concussion from you throwing him down the stairs."_  
 _Kaiba's eyes narrowed as Miho told her story. He may have been a jerk to Joey when they were younger, but he would have never abused someone the way that the woman was describing. Not after the abuse he had suffered himself._  
 _"The day Honda was in the accident, he was helping Jou escape. You were off on a business trip, and they had hoped to be able to get Jou on a plane to America before you came back and realized what was going on. They never saw the truck coming, he jumped over the divide on the freeway and plowed right into Honda's car. Honda woke up the next day, unable to feel his legs, but Jou's been in a coma for the past 2 years."_  
 _Kaiba stood up at her words, turning and marching towards the bedroom door, intent on finding his husband and brother._  
 _"Kaiba-kun."_  
 _Miho said, stopping him in his tracks._  
 _"You should know that your daughter is here also... Lisbeth is living with Mai in a tiny, rundown apartment. Joey doesn't know about her, they were having an affair, and when you finally found out Mai was pregnant, you paid to have her removed from his life. She's only 2, but she is strong and healthy."_  
 _Kaiba turned and walked out the door, slamming it shut as hard as he could._


	8. Chapter 8

Joey stood on his front steps, taking a deep breath. He had hopefully covered all his tracks, now it was time to go home and play nice until he could have a chance to escape with his child. He had opened up a po box under an assumed name, and had gotten the bank to send him his new card in an unmarked that piece of plastic showed up, he would be gone, along with his baby.  
For now though... he opened the door, entering and shutting the door softly. It was quiet, but he knew exactly where his daughter would be. He approached the game room, listening as he heard the sounds of what was probably the third straight day of Mario Kart.  
Sure enough, there was Mokuba and Lisbeth, yelling and cheering at themselves as they raced. Lisbeth looked up, spied Joey and dropped her controller, unable to stop herself.  
"Daddy! You're back from your trip! Did you bring me anything!"  
Joey blinked as his daughter threw herself into his arms, hugging him as if he had been gone for years, as opposed to two days.  
"How was your trip? Seto said that there was some problem with a charity event and you had to go out to Toyko to help out."  
Mokuba said, arching an eyebrow at his brother-in-law. Joey didn't know what to say, so he just stood there for a minute.  
"Oh, everyhing is fine... I was just-worried about the kids, you know how you're brother has a soft spot for orphans."  
Joey said, hoping that Mokuba would believe him. Clearly, the younger man did not but he chose to say nothing, figuring that whatever was happening was a fight between the two that wasn't worth getting involved in.  
"Daddy, will you play with me, Uncle Mokuba keeps picking out the super hard levels that I can't play very well."  
Lisbeth pouted, glaring at the raven-haired man. Mokuba smiled, ruffling her blonde hair before winking at Joey.  
"Well, you definitely inherited both of your fathers gaming gene's, I do what I have to keep the upper hand."  
Joey grimaced at the mentioning of his husband, quickly turning away to try to hid it. Mokuba got up, smiling widely at Lisbeth.  
"Hey, your daddy will come play with you in a moment, I have to show him some things first. Why don't you do a few practice runs while you wait?"  
Lisbeth nodded, picking up the controller and quickly turning back to the tv. Mokuba grabbed Joey by the arm, dragging him out of the room. The blond had little choice but to follow, Mokuba was now taller than him by half a foot, and outweighed him by 30 or so he didn't really have the strength to get into a fight with another Kaiba at the moment.  
Mokuba dragged him into the dining room, turning on the lights. He took a moment to look over his brother-in-law, noticing the barely visible bruises and scratches on the blond's face.  
"What happened?"  
He whispered, crossing his arms and giving Joey the famous Kaiba glare that his brother had perfected over the years. Joey sighed, plopping down heavily on a dining room chair.  
"Your brother and I got into a fight the other night. Mai called, and when I told him, he flipped out and threatened me."  
Joey told Mokuba everything, pointing out the spots on his body that his husband had hurt him, and admitted that Kaiba had threatened him, and said he was going to lose his child.  
Mokuba stared at him, wide eyed in morning after Joey had left, his brother had woken up with a smile on his face. He had kissed his daughter and talked with her for a long time before finally leaving for work, as normal. No indication that a huge fight had happened, that he had threatened his spouse and thrown him out of the house.  
"So what are you going to do?"  
He asked quietly.  
"I don't know yet, but I know that I can't do anything until I can get my daughter out of here. Problem is, your brother has rights to her, if I leave, he can come after me and legally take her from me. I looked over the laws at the library yesterday just to be sure. Right now, I just want to keep him calm until I get a chance to figure out my next move."  
Joey sighed, smiling warily at Mokuba.  
"I think it's time for me to go play with my daughter."  
"Yea, and I have some work to do."  
Mokuba replied before hesitating.  
"Joey, I just want you to know that if it's all true, I will defend you to the best of my abilities."  
Joey nodded, thanking Mokuba profusely. He then walked into the game room, settling into the seat next to his precious daughter and grabbing a controller, smiling sadly to himself at the glee in her eyes as they started to play.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
 _Miho watched carefully as she silently followed Kaiba through the mansion, allowing him to take in all the little changes in the house and its surroundings._  
 _"Kaiba-kun, I usually go see Jounouchi after I leave here, would you like to come with me?"_  
 _She asked, pulling her keys out and dangling them from her hands. Kaiba nodded, turning and following her out the door. They both got into her car, and Miho turned towards the hospital, quietly navigating the streets. Kaiba watched as streets whizzed by, noting the differences with a frown._  
 _"Why are you sleeping with me?"_  
 _He asked suddenly, looking over at Miho. The lilac haired girl looked at him quickly, gripping the steering wheel tightly._  
 _"After the accident, things went bad quickly. We couldn't afford Honda's medical bills, and I couldn't work and take care of him myself. We were visiting Jou one day when you showed up, threatening to take Honda to court for damages. When I begged you to reconsider, you came up with another solution."_  
 _She paused for a minute, collecting her thoughts._  
 _"I didn't know what to do, you agreed to take care of all of our bills, and help me get a better job that would allow me to be home with Honda more, and I couldn't say no. So I went to you one night, signed your contract, and began sleeping with you. It was fine until... you videotaped us one night and sent it to my husband."_  
 _Kaiba stared at her, not believing what she was accusing him of._  
 _"Honda doesn't speak to me anymore, he just stares at the wall and begs whoever will hear him to end his life. When I asked you why you would do something like that, all you could say was that you had to punish the man who took your husband."_  
 _Miho pulled into the hospital, looking over at Kaiba who was extremely pale._  
 _"I should have known all those years ago when I teamed up with him that he was evil. Anyone who was willing to hurt people like that is beyond help, and he needs to be stopped. Please, help me, I can't live like this anymore."_  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
Joey turned around the corner, squeezing around a player to cross the finish line first. He threw his arms in the air, smiling at his pouting daughter.  
"Alright Lisbeth, I need to make dinner and you need to work on your homework."  
Lisbeth pouted for a second, smiling at her daddy before running off to find her book bag. Joey entered the kitchen, pulling some chicken out of the fridge before throwing together a simple salad. A sharp tap on his ass made him jump, and he turned to see Kaiba standing behind him, smiling.  
"Sorry, I couldn't resist."  
He said before pulling his husband close and kissing him hungrily. Joey stiffened up, breathing quickly to calm down. Finally the taller man pulled back, kissing Joey's hands before giving him a smirk.  
"I missed you last night, it was lonely in our bed."  
Joey pushed him away, taking a moment to look at his husband in disgust.  
"What the hell do you think you are doing? Do you not remember kicking me out of the house after you threatened me?"  
Kaiba grinned, looking over the blond carefully.  
"Let's just say I had a good time getting those papers notarized today and I'm feeling generous. How about we send Mokuba out with Lisbeth and spend some time to ourselves."  
Joey looked away, counting to 10 to contain himself.  
"Get the hell away from me Kaiba. Don't talk to me until the bruises you left fade away."  
He held up his arms, his wrists still having purple marks from the other man grabbing him. Kaiba sighed, backing away the other man and looking at him.  
"If that's the way you want it find."  
He pulled something out of his back pocket, tossing Joey's phone at him.  
"By the way, I called your whore. She's going to come here for dinner when she gets into town, so I suggest you make arrangements for our daughter to be away for the night."  
Joey blinked, surprised at the words coming out of the brunet's mouth. He watched silently as his husband left the room before turning back to his dinner prep.  
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The days flew by, and before anyone could blink it was time for Mai to come into town. Joey had received his new debit card in the mail, and he had been steadily selling things to add to his new account. Lisbeth was tucked away at a friends house, thrilled to be away from her parents for a night. Kaiba had insisted that Joey make Mai's favorite meal, Penne Arrabiata which made Joey wonder how he knew that.  
He decided to not question it, saving himself for whatever his husband was up too. Instead he set the table, putting out a bottle of wine before hesitating and removing it. If Mai was in rehab, then alcohol may not be the best thing to serve her.  
Giving the table a once over, he nodded to himself in was only a little after one, and Mai would not be showing up for hours, but he wanted everything to look nice. Even though Mai had shattered him when she walked out all those years ago, he still wanted to impress her. He was happy with his life, but part of him wanted to know if all of his feelings for the blonde bombshell were truly sighed, leaving the dining room to head upstairs.  
He wanted to take a shower before his husband got home, and take a few minutes to collect himself. Even though he had come back home and was sleeping in the same bed as Kaiba, he spent most of his time awake waiting for the other man to strike had been strangely subdued since their fight, taking particularly good care of both Joey and Lisbeth.  
Joey was constantly making notes in his head, compiling thoughts to take to a when he finally was able to leave. The stress of the past few weeks on his body was showing, dark bags appearing under his honey colored eyes as he looked in the mirror.  
Joey set his alarm, deciding the best thing to do would be to take a quick nap before he had to finish getting ready for the night.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
While Joey slept, Seto was plotting. Coming here to this time line had given him the chance to take over a Kaiba Corp that was even stronger than the one that he ran back in his own time.  
A chance to hide his blood thirsty personality under the cover of his weaker self, a chance to have Jou back, and the man he had forced to be by his side but he had been growing quite found of. A Jou that wanted to be with him, one that didn't flinch at his touch.  
A chance to destroy the woman who had tried to interfere in his happiness, who had slept with his husband and gotten pregnant while Seto had been away on a business. Of course, here that hadn't happened, Mai and Joey had split up way before his weaker self-had made a move, but just thinking of that woman made him want to take her out.  
He glanced at the clock, noting that it was only 1:30 in the got up, stretched, and smashed down his intercom button, coldly informing his secretary that he was leaving for the day, much to her surprise. He quickly got into his car, pulling out into traffic, glad that it was light.  
He made it to the mansion, he waltzed into the foyer, calling out to his husband. When he received no answer he frowned, wondering when the blond could be. He headed up the stairs towards the bedroom, stopping when he saw Joey curled up on the bed. His blond hair covered most of his face, and the light snoring was the only noise coming from the stared at him for a minute before an almost smile appeared on his face.  
Without realizing what he was doing, he layed down on the bed next to Joey, gently big spooning him while the blond slept. After about 20 minutes he found his hands drifting down Joey's body, gently touching him through his boxers. At first there was no response, and he frowned. A couple of strokes on his stomach and Joey stirred, groaning as he came too.  
He smiled at his husband sleepily, blinking a few times as he slowly woke up. The blond sat up, frowning as his sleep clogged brain started to clear and he remembered exactly why it had been a while since they had fooled around.  
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"  
He hissed, reaching down to pull up his boxers. Seto blinked at him, frowning himself.  
"I thought you were over this already."  
He hissed, running his hands up to fondle Joey again. The blond jerked away, refusing to let his husband use his hormones to over rid his brain.  
"Have I ever told you how unbelievably turn on I get when you fight me?"  
"Kaiba-"  
"Joey, we've been married for 3 years, you should really call me Seto."  
The brunet smiled, starting to pull Joey back down towards him, missing the look that came over the blond's face as something dawned on him.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Just a quick reminder that the Kaiba here is the bad one from the original show here in disguise, and is referred to as Kaiba when he is being talked to about. Please re-read from chapter 5 if you haven't already, for some reason I posted the wrong chapters there! Thank you too Princess Lily Rose and Taiski for favoriting my stories, and Dark-Angel-Princess for following!

Joey looked over at his husband, snoring away. He frowned, watching him silently. Kaiba never slept after sex like that, he usually spent this time bugging Joey about things that needed to get done with their charities.  
He slowly eased out of bed, slipping on some clothes and grabbing his phone and padding down the hallway to one of the spare a book off the shelf, he pulled out a diary, sliding it into his boxers and walking back into his bedroom.  
Checking that the brunet was still sleeping, he pulled out some clothes and got into the bathroom, locking the door behind quickly showered, washing away his pain and annoyance. He then grabbed the diary, flipping through the pages to check something. Once he confirmed it, he knew he needed to talk to someone.  
Getting dressed, he popped his head out to see that Kaiba was still out of the bathroom, he placed the diary back in its hiding place and fled out of the house, calling Mokuba as soon as he got in the car.  
"Joey? Is everything alright?"  
Joey smiled at the voice of his brother-in-law, the boy who had kept him and Kaiba together during the worst of their fighting  
."Hey Mokuba, I need to talk to you, it's important. Where are you?  
""I'm at the office, I have to deal with some things since Seto left early... is everything ok? Did you two get into another fight? Did he hurt you?"  
Joey shook his head, smiling even though Mokuba couldn't see him  
."I just need to talk to you do you have a few minutes that you can squeeze me in?  
"He heard typing, knowing that Mokuba was checking his schedule.  
"Let me move around some things and I'll get an opening. Are you sure we can't just talk about this over the phone."  
"No, I need to talk to you face to face, cause I need someone to take me down from this crazy cliff I'm standing on."  
Mokuba laughed, shaking his head.  
"Alright, come on up when you get here, I'll have a spot in about 20."  
"Thanks Mokuba, and do me a favor. Call the house so I can say that he missed the call and I ran out with the papers you needed. I turned down the ringer so it won't wake him."  
"Ok... what papers should I be looking for?  
"Mokuba asked, knowing he was not very good at lying to his big brother.  
"I have some for the hospital fundraiser, just say the numbers seem off and I wanted to look at them with you."  
"Got it. I'll call right now."  
Mokuba hung up, quickly punching in the house number and leaving a message on the machine. Joey appeared at his office door not long after, holding a briefcase. Mokuba pointed at a seat, on the phone with was frowning, talking in rapid-fire French with a worried look on his face.  
Joey settled into a chair, watching the younger boy argue with someone who clearly had never dealt with an irate Kaiba before. A small smile appeared on his lips, enjoy watching Mokuba put whoever it was firmly in their place. He might be the little brother, but Mokuba was just as passionate as his brother when it came to their family business. Mokuba finally hung up, a worried look crossing his face.  
"What's wrong?  
"Mokuba shook his head.  
"That was the head of the fund drive for the hospital. He called me a couple of days ago, but I just got the message. Apparently, there's some money missing and he thinks that it got re-routed into another project by Seto.  
"Joey blinked, looking down at the papers in his lap.  
"You mean there actually is something wrong with this?"  
He asked, waving around the papers with a frown.  
"Well yea, I guess there is. I'll deal with it later, big brother made me promise that I would be home for the big 'family' dinner."  
Joey winced, looking at his watch. Even with everything that had happened it was still early enough for him to make it home and cook dinner before Mai's plane landed and she was at the mansion.  
"So, why did you need to talk to me so urgently? Did you guys get into another fight?"  
Joey shook his head, putting his thoughts together.  
"Kaiba tried to seduce me when he got home today..."  
He started, but stopped when Mokuba covered his ears.  
"Please, refrain from telling me the parts that you wouldn't tell Serentiy.  
"He begged, shaking a little in pretend disgust.  
"Fine. Well we were... um... talking and he... he... told me to call him Seto."  
Mokuba burst out laughing, not seeing the problem.  
"Joey, that's his name. You guys have been together for years, don't you think it's about time you call him something else besides Kaiba? I mean, it's your last name now too."  
"See, that's the thing Mokuba. When we got married, we had a long talk about how things were going to be different. I brought up the whole calling him Seto thing, and he begged me not too. He told me it brought up to many bad memories about your adopted father, and he couldn't deal with hearing it all the time."  
Mokuba sat back in his chair, thinking about what Joey just said.  
"Gozaburo did do a lot of awful thing's to Seto… there was a period of time that he would make me call him by a different name altogether, because he couldn't stand what the Kaiba name had done to him. That changed after our adopted father died though."  
He said, tapping his chin thoughtfully.  
"I'm telling you Mokuba, there's something going on, I'm just not sure what."  
Joey said, rubbing his face tiredly.  
"Ok Joey, we will deal with it I promise. I'll tell him it's time for his annual physical, maybe the doctor can figure out if he's suffered some sort of head injury or something."  
Mokuba suggested, jotting something down on his notepad.  
"That sounds wonderful, thanks Mokuba."  
Joey said, flipping through a few papers.  
"So, how much money is missing from the fund? Maybe if you tell me, I'll remember your brother mentioning something about it."  
"It looks like over 2 million yen are missing."  
Joey whistled lowly, going over the amount in his head.  
"I don't remember discussing any kind of addition or maintance fees that could be even close to that amount. There's nothing written down on here either."  
Joey ruffled through the papers again, obviously upset. This fund drive was his own pet project, and it had been hijacked once by that crazy Miho person. Now someone else was trying to hurt it, and Joey would be damned before they got away with it. Mokuba continued to type away at the keyboard, muttering to himself.  
"Well, whoever took it was very careful to cover their tracks, I'm not seeing any trace of the money popping up anywhere."  
He sighed, tapping even more keys. Joey looked down at his own notes, jotting down a few things that he wanted to check on. Finally Mokuba paused, looking at his watch.  
"Joey, it's time for you to go! It's almost 5."  
Joey jumped out of his chair, shoving all of his papers into his briefcase.  
"We'll talk about this later Mokuba."  
He told the younger boy, pulling on his jacket and grabbing his keys.  
"I'll be done in a bit, then I'm picking up Mai at 6 right?"  
Mokuba asked, pausing in his typing to raise an eyebrow at his brother in law.  
"If you don't mind, I sent you the flight info right?"  
Joey asked, and Mokuba nodded, already turning back to his work.  
"Alright, I'll see you at dinner!"  
Mokuba didn't answer, already reaching for the phone to call back the fund drive manager so they could come up with a plan to figure out what was going on.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Joey jogged up to the mansion door, letting himself in only to be attacked by his daughter.  
"Daddy you're home! Uncle Roland was just about to take me to Uncle Yugi's for the night, but I wanted to wait to see you!"  
Joey smiled at Lisbeth, ruffling the young girls hair while he grinned at Roland. The older bodyguard let out a sigh, even after all this time, he still cringed inside when the young girl referred to him in such casual tones.  
"Miss Lisbeth, I think we'd better be going, hug your father and grab your bag please."  
Lisbeth nodded, hugging Joey one more time before grabbing her overnight bag and walking out the door. Roland bowed slightly to Joey, assuring the blond that he would make sure to go over the girl's eating schedule before leaving the Game Shop.  
Joey sighed as the door shut, leaning up against it and closing his eyes. Finally, he headed into the kitchen, knowing that he didn't have much time before Mai showed up. First he checked the machine, quickly deleted the voicemail Mokuba had left. He didn't want his husband to know that there really was a problem with the fundraiser until they got things straightened out.  
Next, he consulted his notes on the dinner he was making. While the pasta wouldn't take long, he also had to put the finishing touches on his triple chocolate mousse cake, one of Kaiba's favorites. It was a small thank you to him for suggesting this, and even though Joey was still prepared to leave him, he hoped that maybe this would help keep things running smooth until then.  
"Need any help?"  
His husband's deep bass interrupted him, and Joey turned slightly to see him standing, freshly showered and dressed down in jeans and a sweater. Joey considered the question for a moment before shrugging and pointing to the fridge.  
"You can cut up the veggies for the salad if you want… other than that I've got it pretty much under control."  
Seto nodded, opening the fridge and grabbing what he needed before shutting it. Dumping everything thing on the counter, he fumbled around for a moment looking for a cutting board and a knife. Joey watched him silently, kneading the dough for the rolls he was making.  
"Use the other knife Kaiba, it's better for cutting."  
He reminded him, to which Seto nodded in acknowledgement. The two men worked quietly for a few minutes, the only sounds in the room were chopping. Seto's cell went off, and he quickly picked it up, walking out of the room to talk to whomever was on the other line.  
Joey watched him go, frowning even more. He sighed, opening up the oven door to drop the rolls in before getting to work on the rest of dinner.  
Time passed quickly, and before he knew it, Mokuba was calling that he had gotten Mai and the two were heading to the house. Joey convinced Kaiba to watch their meal for a second so he could dash upstairs and change, putting on jeans and a sweater himself so he wouldn't look like he had been trying too hard.  
Giving his reflection a small smile and thumbs up, he walked back downstairs, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves. He patted his husband on the arm, dismissing him to go be ready to greet their guest. He check everything over to make sure it was ready, then gave some quick serving tips to their maid Hannah who smiled and assured him that everything would be fine.  
One more quick glance in the mirror and he joined his husband in the foyer, taking his hand as the headlights from Mokuba's car appeared.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Welcome back everyone! Hope you're all doing well! Once again, the parts in italic are our very own Kaiba stuck in evil Kaiba's world... enjoy!

Mokuba stood awkwardly at the terminal, shifting nervously from side to side. His original plan had been to pick Mai up at the curb but he had decided at the last minute to come inside the airport. Now he was regretting that decision, watching as her plane taxi'd up to the gate, and airplane workers approached the plane to start unloading the luggage. Approaching the luggage carousel, he watched as it started spinning, lost in thought.

"Well, I'm lucky that Joey sent me a picture of you, or I would have never recognized you hun."

Mai's voice broke his thoughts, and Mokuba turned to see the blonde standing in front of him grinning. Mokuba couldn't help but smile at her. Here she was, the woman who could ruin everything his brother had worked so hard for, and all Mokuba wanted to do was wrap his arms around her and protect her from the world. It was clear that Mai had been through a lot. Her hair had thinned out considerably, and had turned an ashy blonde color that was obviously dyed. Her skin had dried up, leaving wrinkles across her face that made her look older than her 33 years. Her eyes had dulled also, looking tired and haggard.

Making up his mind, Mokuba briefly enveloped her in a hug, then turned towards the carousel, pulling off the bag she pointed too, an old purple suitcase that had seen better days, and escorting her out of the building and to his car. Once they were inside, Mai let out a sigh, leaning back against the seat and closing her eyes.

"So, how bad is this going to be?"

Mokuba froze for a second at the question, pondering it over in his mind.

"I don't know. Big brother has been acting weird ever since you called Joey."

He admitted, flicking away an imaginary piece of fuzz on his shirt.

"I'm sure Kaiba thinks that I'm just coming around to ruin his life. Guy always was a piece of work. Still can't believe those two ended up together, but I guess you can't help who you're attracted too."

Mokuba ignored her, choosing instead to turn the car on and pull out of the parking garage. Halfway back to the mansion, they got stuck at a light, and the silence became too much for the older woman.

"Mokuba, I know that I made a huge wreck of things by leaving Joey and Lisbeth, but you have to understand that I was not in my right mind. I went through so much during that kidnapping, and I didn't know what to do or who I could trust. I was afraid of what I would do to my daughter, to Joey if I stayed, so I left."

Mai turned her head, trying to blind back the tears that were forming.

"It was the worse mistake I've made in my life, but I need to own up to it now. I'm not here to destroy anything, I'm here to atone for my mistakes, and hopefully get forgiveness."

Mokuba bit his tongue, not wanting to say what he was thinking. Instead he glared impatiently at the light, tapping the steering wheel while he waited for it to turn green.

 _XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_

 _Kaiba stared out the car window, watching as the scenery went by. Miho had been silent the entire ride, and his head hurt too much to care about continuing a conversation with her. Instead, he tried to puzzle out what was going on, and how he was suppose to get back home. He wondered how much of his own history coincided with this place's and realized that he needed to talk to one of two people-Yugi or Yami._

 _"You never told me what happened to Yugi and Yami. Did Yami come back here too? Are they still living at the Game Shop?"_

 _Miho looked over at Kaiba before nodding._

 _"Yugi still lives there... the person you know as Yami is called Atemu here, he is the actual Pharaoh who was denied the chance to go into the Afterlife after you forced him to duel you and lost."_

 _Kaiba sighed, annoyed with the fact that even here he could not escape the stench of his defeats._

 _"I need to see them, could you take me there?"_

 _Miho nodded again, tapping on the steering wheel in thought._

 _"I'll call Yugi when we get to the hospital and see if they are home, and try to explain the situation. I have to warn you though, Atemu is not you're biggest fan. He blames you for stopping him from being able to finally rest in peace, and for a lot of the hardships that Yugi and his Grandpa have gone through due to your interference in their lives."_

 _Kaiba shrugged, used to people hating him for different reasons._

 _"That won't matter once I get a chance to talk to him, there's got to be a way to fix things around here, I just have to figure out what it is."_

 _"Well, I'm sure if anyone could figure it out is you, Kaiba. Jou always admired that brain of yours, even when it was being used against him."_

 _Kaiba smiled faintly at the thought, knowing how true it was._

 _"Maybe you'd better give me a list of everything I've done wrong here, so when I met people I won't be caught off guard or cause alarm."_

 _"Oh trust me Kaiba, that brown hair will cause more confusion than you ever could... the only reason it didn't surprise me was because I had to help the other you do it in the first place."_

 _Miho spent the rest of the drive talking about whatever she knew about Kaiba's life here, while the brunet made several quick notes on his pad. They finally made it to the hospital, and Kaiba could feel his skin crawling. He jumped out of the car, bouncing on his toes waiting for Miho to join him. Every part of him wanted to see his husband, to hold his hand and see him smiling back at him, then pick up his daughter and hug her. His life here was a nightmare, and he needed to figure out a way to get back home, to fix everything his dark side had broken and save his family. Miho smiled at him, turning and walking towards the front doors of Domino General Hospital, leaving Kaiba to silently follow behind her._

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They finally pulled up to the mansion, Mokuba parking right in front, shutting off the car and sighing quietly. Mai nervously straightened her clothing, a baggy sweater and tights. Both looked worn, and Mokuba realized that she probably didn't have the money any more to keep up with a decent wardrobe. He was hit with another wave of compassion for her which he had to fight back down. He was here as backup support for his brother, not for her.

Mokuba got out of the car, walking around and opening Mai's door before offering her a hand like the gentleman Joey had taught him to be. Mai smiled at him, for a moment looking like her old self. He ushered her up the front steps, opening the door before yelling for his brother and brother in law. He toed off his shoes, indicating that Mai could place her shoes next to his.

"I see you made it in ok."

Seto said, walking back into the foyer with Joey straight behind him. Both men quickly took in her appearance, Joey frowning while Seto tried his best not to smirk. Joey stepped forward, opening his arms up to hug his ex-girlfriend. The two stood there for a moment, not saying anything while Seto and Mokuba watched. Mai broke away first, turning to greet her host.

"Kaiba, you're looking well. I'm glad to see the years have agreed with you."

"Wish I could say the same to you, but well..."

Seto trailed off, waving a hand in Mai's general area.

"Seto! What is wrong with you!"

Mokuba shouted, giving his big brother a stern look. Mai shook her head, patting the younger boy on the arm.

"It's ok Mokuba, I appreciate you defending me, but your brother has every right to be angry at me."

She smiled at the raven-haired boy, while Seto frowned in annoyance.

"How about we head into the dining room? Dinner's almost ready and I'm starving!"

Joey suggested, grabbing his husband by the arm and practically dragging him away. Mokuba offered his arm again to Mai who graciously took it and followed the married couple into the next room, settling down next to Mokuba, who sat on his brother's right. Joey sat across from Mokuba, winking at Mai. Seto folded his hands in his lap to keep from jumping up and strangling the blonde woman at his table.

"So Mai, where have you been the past 8 years?"

Mokuba asked, hoping to ease into a conversation.

"Here and there. After I left Domino, I went back to my home town for awhile, tried to clear my head. When that didn't work, I left, and pretty much floated around until I finally woke up one day and realized that I needed to change, if not for me, then for the people who cared about me."

Seto snorted at that, causing Joey and Mokuba to both hit him under the table. He stood up, fixing each one of them with his stare.

"If you'll excuse me, I just remembered a work email that I need to respond too, I'll try to be back shortly."

He waltzed out of the dining room, leaving the other three staring at their empty plates in silence.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _As they walked into the ward, Kaiba and Miho could feel the whole room change. The receptionist on the phone stared at them with wide eyes, quickly hanging up and looking around guiltily like she had been caught selling government secrets. The same with all of the nurses, two of the ducking into Joey's room as if they had been in there for hours._

 _Kaiba frowned at the behavior, looking over at Miho for an explanation. She leaned in, whispering into his ear about the staff members he had had fired because of a perceived lack of care for Joey. Kaiba nodded, putting on his old Kaiba mask and following Miho into his husband's room. A quick nod at the nurses, and he was at Joey's side, looking at a frail shell in a hospital bed. His hair was wild, and there were several tubes sticking out a various points of his body, reminding Kaiba of the time he had been hit by Ra in Battle City._

 _The tube down his throat was breathing for him, his chest steadily rising and falling. Kaiba stared at the numbers on the monitor, not wanting to look at his husband's face. Miho stood behind him silently, looking over her friend carefully._

 _"Something looks different."_

 _She said, frowning._

 _"He hasn't been on a ventilator for a while, I wonder what happened."_

 _Kaiba's eyes flashed, and he turned around, ready to go look for someone. As if he sensed the tension growing, a doctor appeared in the doorway, chart in hand._

 _"Kaiba-san, thank you for coming. Won't you join me in my office?"_

 _"I don't need to join you in your office, you can tell me right here what's going on."_

 _The doctor sighed, shaking his head and looking Kaiba dead in the eyes._

 _"Kaiba-san, you and I have been over this several times already. You wanted the best doctor taking care of your husband, and I am it. I have plenty of other people ask me to take their cases, and I have no problem taking them. I don't fear you, and I will not have you freaking out the staff here every time you come in. Now, if you'd like to take about your husband's case, you can follow me or you can stay here. Your choice."_

 _Kaiba stared at him, shocked that anyone would have the nerve to speak to him like that. He nodded slowly, silently following the man down the hall. He glanced at the door, seeing the name Aaron Haynes on it. He settled into a chair, watching as the doctor settled into his own._

 _"I'd like to thank you for coming in so quickly Kaiba-san. I know a man with your responsibilities can have a hard time adjusting his schedule when need be."_

 _Kaiba shifted, realizing that at some point this man must have called him, even though he never received the message._

 _"I apologize, Dr. Haynes, but I must have missed your call before. I had my associate bring me here because of a personal matter. Please, start over from the beginning. What happened to my husband?"_

 _Dr. Haynes pulled out a chart, reading it quickly before flipping it around to show the other man._

 _"One of the nurses noticed that he has been reacting more to stimuli the past few days. This can happen with coma patients sometimes, which is why we check them every so often. Then yesterday when the nurse was checking on him, she noticed some bruises on his left arm which seemed suspicious. She checked the video, and realized that he had been moving in his bed and hitting his arm, which matched up with the mark pattern. We sent a report to your office this morning and your bodyguard Isono called back and said he would give you the message after your meeting."_

 _Kaiba nodded, folding his arms in annoyance. Miho looked over at him before sighing._

 _"That makes sense. Isono had to deal with a security breach at the office this afternoon, he must have forgotten to relay the message."_

 _Dr. Haynes nodded, flipping to another page in the chart. After the third time a visit from the CEO had cost them to be short-staffed, Dr. Haynes had put his foot down. Messages about Jounochi went to a third party, who would then pass the message on to Kaiba after it was properly investigated unless the issue was life threatening. Being one of the few people who could handle the CEO was not easy, but Isono and Dr. Haynes had come to an easy agreement about how to best control Kaiba._

 _"Now, on to the next part. I'm sure you both noticed the ventilator that Jounouchi is hooked up too. Approximately 2 hours ago, one of the aides walked in and Jou was awake. He was sitting up staring out the window, and when the aide tried to leave to get help, Jou handed him this note."_

 _Dr. Haynes pulled a sticky note off the chart, handing it to Kaiba. 'Break glass, save Mai.' Kaiba blinked in confusion, not sure what to say._

 _"We assumed that you would have a clue what this means. After he gave the aide the note, Jou briefly stopped breathing. We managed to bring him back, but he is on the ventilator until we are sure his O2 stats will stay stabile."_

 _Kaiba ran his fingers over the note, taking comfort in how familiar the handwriting was him._

 _"Mai was a friend of his from back during high school... I believe her number is still at the Mansion, I will check and have my security make sure that nothing has happened to her."_

 _Dr. Haynes nodded, flipping back through the chart._

 _"The good news is that we believe your husband will wake up again soon. He is still responding to stimuli, and he even opened his eyes after we got him breathing today, albeit briefly. If that does happen, I want you to be prepared for what happens next. Jounouchi will require extensive treatment at a home, with intensive physical therapy. We're hoping that since he was able to write that note he has not suffered as much brain damage as we thought. In any case, he will need a lot of emotional support to get through the next few months, and I hope that you will be able to give it too him."_

 _Kaiba nodded, looking over at Miho._

 _"I will do anything to help my husband, just tell me what it is that I need to do."_

 _Dr. Haynes nodded in approval, smiling briefly at the CEO._

 _"That's good to hear Kaiba-San. I will let you go see your husband now, feel free to come back if you have any questions."_

 _Kaiba nodded, standing and stiffly bowing in thanks at the doctor before he allowed Miho to lead him out. At Jou's door he paused, looking around to make sure no one was watching before questioning Miho about what she thought that note meant._

 _"I don't know Kaiba, why don't you go ahead and sit with Jou for a moment while I make a phone call? I don't have Mai's contact information, but I bet that Yugi will have it somewhere."_

 _Kaiba nodded, slipping into the room and settling in by the other man's side. He took Jou's hand, noticing the wedding band that matched Joey's, making him wonder how long someone had been watching him before all this had happened. The details were too exact to be coincidence, and the thought made Kaiba's insides turn. He had been too careless for too long, letting the joy of having a family get in the way of protecting that family._

 _"I'm so sorry Joey."_

 _He whispered, hiding his face in his hands, allowing a few brief tears to pop out, the only sounds the steady beeping of Jou's heart monitor._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After a few minutes of silence, Joey excused himself to go check on his husband, leaving Mai and Mokuba by themselves. The two pushed food around their plates for a moment, neither one knowing what to say to break the silence. Finally Mai sighed, looking over at the younger Kaiba and smiling.

"So, you've certainly grown since the last time I saw you Mokuba. How many inches taller are you than your brother?"

"2, actually, but Seto likes to fix his hair so it's not as noticeable."

Mokuba answered, grinning to himself as he remembered the look on his brother's face when he realized that Mokuba was going to be taller than him.

"Yea that sounds like your brother, can't be bested by anyone, not even you."

Mai winked at Mokuba, grinning cheekily.

"Are you officially the VP of Kaiba Corp now? Do you get to boss around a bunch of people who are older than you like your brother does?"

"Yea, but they don't listen to me like they do Seto. I'm more in charge of promotional things now, as well as our charitable contributions. Seto worried about the numbers and the productions, which works out well for the both of us."

"Yea, and great for me when I have to hear the two of you complaining when things don't add up right."

Joey added, sitting back down at his plate.

"Hey, we only fight because Seto doesn't fall for my innocent little kid act anymore."

Mokuba said, fake pounting when Joey ruffled his hair affectionally.

"What about you Mai? What have you been up too?"

Mokuba asked, looking over at the blonde woman. Mai frowned down at her plate, not sure if she wanted to talk about her own life with Mokuba in the room.

"Well, I'm sure Joey told you that I've been to rehab for drug abuse. I don't know how much you know about what happened to me when I was missing-"

She paused and looked over at him, and Mokuba shrugged. Seto had tried his hardest to keep most of that information away from his younger brother, with some success. Most of what Mokuba knew came from listening to conversations, and one drunk night where Joey had told Mokuba about some things. Mai nodded, understanding that Mokuba knew just enough.

"I know now that I should have stayed here and continued with my therapy and relied on my friends to help me, but everywhere I went just reminded me of what had happened. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't have a clear thought without wondering if someone would come after me, come after Lisbeth. There were nights when I would just hold her and cry, wondering what I had done to deserve this, until that day I left. I fell in with some people who had been through similar experiences, and I convinced myself that I needed something to help me deal with what I've been through. I bounced in and out of rehab for a couple of years, until I saw this."

Mai pulled a newspaper article out of her pocket, showing it to Joey. It was from a fundraiser that Kaiba Corp had funded the year before, the gang and all their kids smiling at the camera. Joey smiled, remembering how excited Lisbeth had been to stay up late dancing and having fun, only to fall asleep 20 minutes after her regular bedtime before dessert was even served. He handed it back to Mai, who carefully folded it back up and placed it back in her pocket.

"That picture made me realize everything that I had given up, that I was still allowing the people who had hurt me to victimize me. It took a couple of weeks, but I finally called a friend of a friend who had offered to help me before. I went to rehab again, this time far away from where I had been living, and I got really sober. This friend found me a job, a couple whose daughter had overdosed years before. They took me in, cleaned me up and offered me a job with several contingencies. No drinking, no medications they didn't approve of, no people over they didn't know. It's been rough, but I'm doing much better."

Joey frowned a bit, looking over at Mokuba who was clearly blinking back tears. Mai noticed as well, and cleared her throat, clearly wanting to change the subject.

"Maybe we should talk about something else for a bit? How about you Joey? How did you manage to snag the world's most eligible bachelor?"

Mai asked, smiling at her former lover. Joey cleared his throat, looking sheepishly over at Mokuba.

"Well, I guess it was all the squirt here's doing. I moved in over the pool house with Lisbeth after you... after graduation. Kaiba offered me a job and a place to stay while I got things straighten out, and I wasn't really in the position to say no to him. After we were here for a month or so I came in from doing some yard work to clean up for dinner. Mokuba made me eat with him every night since Kaiba was always at work. He was playing with Lisbeth in the main house, so I jumped in the shower and got dressed."

Joey paused and smiled, letting Mokuba pick up the story.

"Well, I had hacked into big brother's computer and found this program where he was trying to figure out how to ask Joey out and have a 100% chance of success. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I called Seto, pulled my pleading voice out and convinced him that he was not being a good brother and guilt tripped him into coming home. Then I offered to watch Lisbeth, and right before Seto got home I had one of the maids take over for me for a minute while I locked Seto and Joey in here by themselves. It took longer that I thought, but deprive Joey of food long enough and he will admit to just anything."

Mai cracked up at that, knowing full well how much of Joey's personality was lead by his stomach. The blond male smiled sheepishly, shaking his head at Mokuba who was holding his side in pain from all the laughing he was doing.

Seto watched them silently from the doorway, taking the time to study the blonde woman sitting at his dining room table. He watched as Joey and Mokuba settled into an easy conversation with her, frowning as he realized that getting rid of her in this world may not be as easy as he had hoped.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: So I finally got this finished. Only a few chapters left til the end. Hope you all enjoy this part, I had to chop it into two chapters because it was getting way too long!

Joey woke up suddenly, his heart pounding and covered in sweat. He closed his eyes, trying in vain to calm himself down. Looking over at the clock, he sighed as he realized it was barely 4 in the morning. Throwing the comforter off, he got up, grabbing his phone before making his way down the hallway.

Once Mokuba had left with Mai last night, the two men had gotten into a huge fight about the evening. Kaiba was convinced that Joey was trying to leave with Mai, and Joey was tired of trying to defend himself. The fight had ended with them in separate rooms, Kaiba in the Master, and Joey in his old room down the hall.

After that dream though, all Joey wanted was to be close to someone. Hand on the door knob, he hesitated only for a second before opening up the door and crawling into bed next to his husband.

Seto had spent most of the night fuming in the bed room, digging through his counterpart's computer looking for anything he could get his hands on to force Joey to stay away from Mai. Apparently Kaiba was much softer hearted than he was, and had given up keeping files on those who had hurt him and his brother.

Several hours pasted before Seto gave up, turning off the lap top and attempting to sleep for a bit. That lasted only a bit when he heard the door open, and sensed someone walking quietly over to the bed. A quick whiff of vanilla and Seto knew it was Joey, crawling back into bed with him.

Seto allowed himself a smile as he felt the shorter man curl up next to him. Debating his options, he turned around, adjusting the covers around them before pulling the blond possessively close to him and drifting back off to sleep.

It was barely morning when he awoke again, noting with satisfaction that Joey was still curled up firmly against his side, mouth open and drooling. Seto pushed back the blond hair, getting it out of the way so he could see the other's face more clearly.

Something had bothered Joey last night, and Seto was curious to know what was so bad that he would come running after the argument that they had had. When his fights with Jou would get like that, he would have to drag out the contract the blond had signed to get him back into their bed- Joey had come back willingly, obviously seeking the comfort he had come to know from the brunet.

Seto wasn't sure what to do with this information, he hadn't realized just how soft his counter-part was when it came to his family. Hell, the only reason Seto was even here was because he didn't want to admit that someone had beaten him at anything. Clearly his other half had, creating a life for himself where he was not only successful in business but in life.

There was nothing Seto wanted more than what was right in front of him for the taking, and once Mai was out of the picture, he would finally be safe. He continued stroking the blond hair, contemplating his next move, unaware of the honey eyes that were slightly opened staring at him.

Finally Joey sighed, yawning and pulling away from Seto so he could stretch for a minute. The brunet let him move, shifting his arm down so it rested on Joey's stomach while the blond stared at the ceiling. After a moment Joey stretched again, gently shrugging his husband's arm off of him so he could stand and make his way over to the bathroom.

Seto watched him go, waiting to see if he would come back and talk about what happened last night, or if Seto would have to drag it out of him. He decided to jump in, hoping that would be the best way to deal with this.

"Want to talk about it?"

He asked Joey as the blond came out of the bathroom. Joey paused, looking over at him with a frown.

"Not particularly. You know how these dreams can get."

Seto flinched internally, because no, he didn't, and he didn't know how to deal with it. Treading carefully, he attempted to steer the conversation into another direction.

"Are we done fighting now? It is getting pretty tiresome."

Joey glared at him before rolling his eyes and grabbing his phone off the nightstand.

"I don't know? Are you done being an asshole to the mother of your child? Isn't it bad enough that she's been through all of this because of some crazy person who was trying to destroy all of our lives, and now you want to make it worse by reminding here what a complete failure she was at motherhood? Who does that help besides your ego?"

Joey snapped before walking out of the room in a huff, while Seto just watched him go.

 _Kaiba walked behind Miho in a daze, not really paying attention to anything around him. She too was quiet, letting the CEO be alone with his own thoughts, and worrying about Jou. This was the first time that she had heard about him showing any sign of walking up, and she couldn't help but wonder if that had anything to do with the man next to her. Finally they approached her car, only to see someone leaning up against it, the emerald piece perched on her head glowing in the street light._

" _Isis?"_

Mai woke up bright and early the next morning, looking forward to a day of catching up with her friends. It was going to be a little tricky, but hopefully things would work out. Since Kaiba had put his foot down on Lisbeth seeing her, the friends had to maneuver around so she met none of the kids, so none of them could mention the blonde lady they had met.

The harder part was staying at one of the houses, so no one could see her and realize who she was. Even though Battle City had been years ago, any hard core duelist knew who the finalists were, and the local papers had plastered her picture during her kidnapping and recovery.

That was part of the reason she had left in the first place, tired of reporters tracking her down to talk about what had happened, or to snap pictures of her and her baby. Even worse were the ones from the fly by night papers- the ones that shouted out questions across the street about her time missing, hoping for some sort of response that they could post to their viewers to get hits.

One reporter in particular had been particularly vicious- accusing Mai of sleeping around to win tournaments and even once questioning her on who the father of her baby really was. That had been when she snapped, plotting her escape, and hoping that she was doing what was best for her baby.

Clearly she had, from what she had gathered last night and from the phone conversations she had with the rest of the gang, Lisbeth was thriving, a happy, well-adjusted girl with two parents who loved her dearly, and a mother who wished she could be strong enough that she would be a positive role model in her life.

Mai shook her head, trying to dispel the cloud she was going under. Her first stop today would be to The Game Shop to see Yugi, Yami, and Grandpa. The rest of their friends would be filtering in and out during the day, passing off kids to each other to come visit.

Mai sighed, knowing how much she had put everyone through, not really understanding why they would bother with her but grateful that she had such forgiving people in her life.

A knock at the door made her jump, and she quickly grabbed the pepper spray sitting on the nightstand. Cautiously walking to the door, she peered through the peek hole, only to see the very top of a familiar-spiked head.

"Yugi?"

He immediately backed up, waving awkwardly at the hole in the door. Mai quickly unlocked it, stepping aside to let her guest in. Yugi looked around the small room before shaking his head.

"Sorry to be early, I tried calling and didn't get an answer, and I didn't want to call the hotel and raise suspicions about anything."

Mai glanced over at her phone and sighed.

"I don't seem to get very good reception here, I must have not heard it ring. Sorry Yugi. Go ahead and sit down, I'll be ready in a few minutes."

Yugi gingerly sat on the bed, making a face as he heard it creak.

"Actually, that's why I'm here so early. Grandpa found out where you were staying, and he had a little bit of a hissy fit. Yami's cleaning the guest room as we speak, and I'm here to sweet-talk you into staying with us."

Mai shook her head, not believing what Yugi just said.

"I can't oppose on you guys any more than I already am Yugi. I appreciate the gesture, but I'm going to need some alone time this week."

Yugi motioned Mai over, getting her to sit next to him on the bed.

"Mai, Mokuba called me last night after he dropped you off here… he's worried about you. This part of town isn't the best to begin with, and with everything you've been through, we don't want someone encouraging you to make a bad decision."

He admitted, turning on his best 'puppy eyes' expression causing the blonde to laugh.

"Alright Yugi, if you guys are sure… this place doesn't do reservations, so I can leave anytime. Let me pack up and I'll be ready to go in a bit how does that sound."

Yugi smiled, pleased that he was able to convince Mai to leave with him.

"Is there anything I can help you with?"

Mai shook her head, smiling gently.

"Let me just put my make up on, I only packed a few things up so it won't take me long to get ready. Give me about 15 minutes and we can go."

Yugi nodded as she disappeared into the bathroom, and as the door closed he placed his head in his hands, trying to blink back the tears that had formed at seeing what had happened to his old friend.

 _The Egyptian smiled at the pair, hugging Miho before offering her hand to Kaiba, who shook it reluctantly._

" _How did you get here? Did anyone even know you were come?"_

 _Isis smiled, tapping on the hood of the car._

" _Shadi appeared at my home a few days ago. He told me that we needed to be prepared for another adventure, and to get here as soon as possible. I arrived a few hours ago with my brothers, and had them drop me off here while they went to the Muto's."_

" _But how did you know we would be at the hospital?"_

 _Isis smiled, touching her neck where her Millennium item used to hang, letting the other two figure it out for themselves. After a minute, she spoke again._

" _Yugi and Atemu are waiting for us, shall we?"_

 _Miho and Kaiba both nodded and the three got into the car heading towards The Game Shop._

Mai smiled as Yugi pulled up in the driveway of his home, parking and grinning brightly at her.

"Yami made waffles for our brunch, and there's a ton of fruit for toppings! Tea's going to be over in a bit with Ryou, Bakura is watching Zora and Zanna, he figured he wasn't high on your need to see list. I'm not sure what Tristan and Duke's plans are, but I think Serenity is coming over later on today."

Mai nodded, trying to keep herself calm. It had been a long time since she had been around people who cared about her, and who knew who she was before everything had happened, and she couldn't help but be nervous. Yugi patted her shoulder, trying to comfort her.

"If it seems like it's going to be too much, just let us know and we can spread things out a bit… in fact how about I have Tristan and Duke come over tomorrow since you're going to be here anyway?"

"That will probably be a good idea, I don't want to push it too much."

Mai admitted, looking out the window at the shop.

"This place must be really booming for you guys to have renovated so much… it looks really nice Yugi!"

"That's all Yami, he's got a real flair for dramatic colors and decorating."

Yugi smiled fondly, thinking about his fiancé.

"Alright, are you ready Mai? I'm surprised Grandpa hasn't come out here yet!"

Mai grabbed the door handle, letting herself out of the car and blinking in the bright sunlight. She took three deep breaths, centering herself before plastering back on her smile and following Yugi into the house.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Once again, thanks to WavesOver for reviewing, please enjoy!

 _Kaiba stared in silence at The Game Shop as Miho pulled up to it, looking over the subtle differences that the two buildings had. While this Game Shop had been somewhat updated, it still had a run-down appearance to it, like someone had given up halfway through renovations and just hoped for the best. Kaiba realized that was probably what happened, that the Muto's had simply ran out of money and were unable to finish._  
 _He followed Miho inside, with Isis behind him. Yugi, Atemu, and Yugi's Grandpa were sitting at the kitchen table, several boxes of pizza stacked next to them. Yugi smiled at Isis, jumping up to give the other woman a hug._  
 _"Malik and Rishid are both upstairs, they'll be down in a minute so we can eat!"_  
 _He looked carefully at Kaiba, obviously trying to decide for himself how much he was going to believe about what was going on._  
 _"You look different with brown hair Kaiba. A lot… softer."_  
 _He stated, looking up at the CEO. Kaiba almost smiled at that remark before looking over at the other two Muto's, who were both sitting at the table glaring at him. Kaiba walked over to the older man, bowing down to Yugi's Grandpa to show respect._  
 _"I know you have not forgiven me for what I did to you and your grandson, but I hope to assure you that in my world, we are as close as family, that Jou and I are happy to be together, and we are raising a beautiful little girl who has you wrapped around her finger."_  
 _Solomon's eyes soften at the mention of a child, and he nodded stiffly, allowing Kaiba to stand back up. The brunet immediately went to his wallet, one of the few possessions he still had from his other life, and pulled out a picture, handing it over to the older man._  
 _It was Joey, Kaiba, and Lisbeth, on the day of the wedding, both men wearing tuxes and Lisbeth dressed in dark purple, a color that had been agreed on as it was the mixture of blue and red. Solomon traced a finger over the picture, smiling to himself._  
 _"You three make a beautiful family, did you adopt her?"_  
 _Kaiba shook his head, sitting down in the chair that Yugi had pulled out for him, thanking the shorter man and causing everyone at the table to blink at him in surprise, none of them having ever heard anything close to politeness coming out of the CEO's mouth._  
 _"Actually, it's quite a long story…"_  
 _Kaiba began, everyone leaning in to hear the tale of his past._

Tea was silent on the way to Yugi's, holding a photo album in her lap, filled with pictures of the twins. Ryou drove, flipping the channels on the radio and coming up with different topics to try to distract his wife. None of them work, and the white-haired man finally stopped, allowing Tea to focus on her thoughts.  
When they finally pulled into the driveway, Yugi was sitting on the trunk of his car, legs and arms both crossed. He didn't both waving at his friends, just waited for both of them to get out of the car. Tea waddled up to him, attempting to lean casually on the trunk.  
"This kid won't settle down at all."  
She told him, placing a hand on her belly. Yugi's eyes widened at Tea's appearance, it seemed like she had doubled in size overnight.  
"You look gorgeous Tea!"  
He said, leaning over to give her a hug, only to jump back when something hit him. Ryou laughed, shaking his head.  
"You can tell this is Bakura's kid, anytime someone shows affection he gets annoyed!"  
Tea sighed, placing a hand on her belly.  
"It actually has been pretty nice, some lady wouldn't stop trying to touch my belly, and next thing she knew, she was being assaulted."  
Yugi laughed hard, wiping his eyes quickly as tears started to gather. Tea knew that look, and grabbed Yugi's hand.  
"How is she?"  
Yugi's eyes darted back and forth between the couple, not knowing what to say.  
"She looks like she's been through hell." He finally admitted, blinking back more tears. Ryou exchanged a glance with his wife before patting his friend on the shoulder.  
"Let's go in, I know Tea's been dying to see Mai all week."  
Yugi nodded before leading his friends inside the house. Mai was sitting at the table with Yami and Grandpa, looking up and smiling hard at her friends.  
"Omg Tea I didn't know you were pregnant, I can't believe Joey didn't tell me."  
Mai said, getting up to look at her old friend.  
"Careful Mai, this kid likes to make his presence known."  
Ryou said, taking the bag Tea was holding so she could hug the blonde. The baby must have sensed something, because for once he didn't react to someone touching his mother. Once they were done, Mai helped Tea over to a chair, sitting next to her talking about Tea's pregnancy and the twins with Grandpa while the other three got brunch ready.  
Once they started eating, the conversation turned to the missing years, with each person talking about what had been happening in their lives. When the conversation lagged, Grandpa suggested that the girls go into the living room while the men cleaned up.  
Mai helped Tea up, and the two made their way into the other room, sitting down on the couch together. Yugi brought them some tea, leaving the two with a wink and a mentioning that Serenity was on her way over. Mai sighed at the information, worrying about this visit.  
Serenity had once looked up to her, but that was before Mai had abandoned her brother and niece. While Joey had seemed to forgiven her, that didn't mean his little sister was quite on the same path yet. She turned back to Tea, who was handing her an ultrasound picture and telling a story about her last doctor's visit.

 _"The next thing I knew, I was standing in front of a mirror, and Miho came up to me and started talking to me like I was someone else, and I didn't know what to do."_  
 _Kaiba finished, looking around the table. Everyone had been wrapped up in his story except for Atemu, who watched him through narrowed eyes. The two rivals were on edge, waiting for one to make a move and finally it was Kaiba._  
 _"I understand that you never made it back to the afterlife, I'm sorry that happened."_  
 _"It just wasn't meant to be I guess. Not surprising, since you've always been selfish."_  
 _"Atemu!"_  
 _Yugi yelled, looking quickly at Kaiba._  
 _"We promised we would give him the benefit of the doubt, so please stop."_  
 _"It's ok Yugi, I get it. I know what it's like to spend all your time wanting to beat someone. I almost killed myself trying to find a way to get to him so I could finally beat him in a duel, and all it took was a stupid luck card from Joey's deck to do it all along."_  
 _Every head in the room snapped to him, jaws open in shock._  
 _"You.. Actually beat Atemu in a duel?"_  
 _Yugi asked quietly, unable to believe what he had just heard. Kaiba nodded, smiling to himself._  
 _"Yugi agreed to duel me if I would use a card from Joey's deck. He was just trying to humor me, but I ended destroying his Blade Bluster and taking out his life points with that Time Wizard. It took months for Joey to stop bragging about how his cards had defeated the Pharaoh, in fact it was so bad that I swore to never challenge him to a game again."_  
 _Isis sat back in thought, tapping her chin with her index finger as she contemplated what Kaiba had told them._  
 _"What is it Isis?" Malik asked, watching his sister's face closely. Isis smiled at her brother, mulling a question in her mind over before speaking again._  
 _"Kaiba, tell us more about this duel, if you don't mind."_  
 _Kaiba nodded, having memorized the duel from watching it over and over again. By the time he got into the third round, Atemu and Yugi were eyeing each other, obviously knowing what he was going to say. By the end, Atemu was providing the cards he played, right up to the part when the story changed and Kaiba won. The rest of the group stared, wide-eyed._  
 _"That's the same duel that you and Atemu fought that would have freed him, card for card except for the ending of course." Yugi said, placing his hands over his mouth in shock._

Serenity pulled up to the house, sitting in the driveway and staring out the window. She had left her boyfriend at home, not wanting him to see her an emotional mess. Next to her was a box filled with photo albums that she had put together with Tea, pictures of Lisbeth and her adventures.  
Serenity had asked Joey if it would be ok to let Mai have them, and he had agreed, but only if his sister promised she wouldn't push them on Mai. 'She's delicate, remember that Ren.' He had told her several times, as if driving the point home. Serenity shook her head, grabbing the box and getting out of the car, slamming the door shut behind her. She walked up to the side door, knocking once before opening it.  
Yugi greeted her with his trademark smile, telling her to go into the living room with the other two. Serenity nodded, shifting the box in her hands awkwardly as she approached Tea and Mai. They didn't notice her at first, wrapped in up looking at pictures of Tea's kids. Serenity finally cleared her throat, unsure what to say. Mai looked up, locking eyes with Serenity. The auburn-haired woman immediately put down the box she was holding, walking over to the blonde and enveloping her into a crushing hug.

 _Atemu glared at Kaiba, crossing his arms in annoyance. "Well, it looks like one of us went to go home at least." He muttered under his breath, causing Yugi to smack his arm._  
 _Kaiba shook his head, raising his eyebrows at the Pharaoh. "I didn't fight that last duel with you, Yugi did. He defeated you, and you went away, but you ended up coming back with Bakura and Marik later on. This duel happened after Joey and I were married, we dueled during the reception."_  
 _Rashid looked over at Isis, having a silent conversation before clearing his throat. "Clearly we are missing something here. Perhaps we need to go back a little bit further… can you tell us how you first met everyone?"_  
 _Kaiba cleared his throat, sighing because he was already tired of talking about the past._  
 _"Yugi mentioned that his grandfather owned a game shop with a bunch of rare cards so I decided to check it out. I was looking for the last Blue Eyes White Dragon, and something in the back of my mind told me it was here. When Yugi's grandfather refused to let me buy it off him, I challenged him to a duel. After that, Yami challenged me, and he ended up winning that game and claimed he banished my dark self. After that I went into a severe depression, and disappeared for months, leaving Mokuba to fend for himself and Kaiba Corp. That's when Pegasus decided to try to take over my company…"_  
 _Atemu held up a hand, asking Kaiba to stop talking. "That's not how it happened. We tied after you tried to play Jii-chan's blue eyes and it refused to attack for you. Plus, you never came here, Yugi brought the card into school and you swamped them out, then I dueled you to get the card back."_  
 _"Yea, after that duel you kept sending your Game Master's to try to defeat us, then when that didn't work you made Death-T to try to kill us."_  
 _Yugi added, placing a hand on Atemu's shoulder._  
 _"After all that, we went to Duelist Kingdom to save Jii-Chan."_  
 _The Ishtars shared a look, debating something between the three of them._  
 _"It seems that first duel is the key. The Kaiba we know must truly be the dark half of the two, and this world was created when he was separated from this Kaiba here."_  
 _"So basically, this is all Yami's fault. If he hadn't done his 'mind crush' thing on me, this whole place wouldn't exist. Joey wouldn't be in a coma, Tristan wouldn't be paralyzed, Yugi would be making a ton of money working for Pegasus, Yami and I would be working together, I would have my husband and daughter and my baby brother.-"_  
 _"Actually, the fact that you were 'mind crushed' is the reason all of those good things happened. Our world is a reflection of what could have been. The part of you that was banished has ran unchecked here for years, and the problems that you have pointed out are the result of that. By getting rid of your outer layer of hurt and anger, you were able to work through all of the suffering you have been through. That allowed you to have develop normal relationships, which lead to your relationship with Joey."_  
 _Isis analyzed the situation, placing a caring hand on Kaiba's shoulder._  
 _"That doesn't make sense though. I did the same thing to our Kaiba after our match in Death-T. I mean, he had almost given Jii-Chan a heart-attack, had left Honda to get crushed by boxes, and left his own brother in a cage with hallucination gas. If anyone was going to undergo a personality change you'd think it would be him."_  
 _"Perhaps the difference between the two was there wasn't anything good to save by then."_  
 _Isis suggested, thinking over what Atemu had just said._  
 _"Well, the problem now is, how do we fix this? We don't exactly have the power to jump dimensions now do we." Malik said, looking at his siblings._  
 _"True, but Kaiba figured out how to do it twice now. Surely there is a way for it to happen." Isis said, raising an eyebrow and looking over at Miho, who blushed._  
 _"I might be able to help with that, let me see if I can unbury some of the old plans of his." Miho said quietly. "Right now though, I need to get home to feed Honda."_  
 _"Alright, let's sleep on it and talk in a few days. Maybe one of us can come up with something by then."_  
 _Atemu said, standing up and nodding to everyone before leaving the room. Kaiba watched him go, noting how different he was from his counter-part, even the way he walked as if he was still The Pharaoh. Miho tapped him on the shoulder. "Come on Kaiba. We should go." The brunet nodded in agreement, exchanging his good nights with everyone before following her out._


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Slight trigger warning, talk of drug use and canonish character death

 _The next few weeks flew by with little accomplished. Mai had disappeared, taking Lisbeth and running to no one knew where. Kaiba had spent the time buried in work, not knowing what else to do. He also attempted to make some sort of amends with the Muto's too little avail: Atemu in particular wanted nothing to do with him._  
 _Finally, one day Kaiba had enough. He informed Isono to cover for him at work, stating he was going to do some work from the mansion, which almost caused the older man to pass out. Once that was done, he got ready for the day, pulling out his laptop and digging into his emails, noting once again how different his company really looked here._  
 _So many of the programs that he had gotten rid of after he took over were back, and the emails were mostly from people that he didn't know. There was no funny notes from Mokuba, or drawn out ponderings from Yami, or Joey's 'I'm really annoyed with you for something I'm not going to explain to you right now.'_  
 _Just pages of work, like how his email used to be before everything started all those years ago. Kaiba frowned, powering down the machine and packing it up, grabbing his keys and taking off to the hospital._  
 _Entering Jou's floor caused as much turmoil as it did last time he showed up unannounced, nurses rushing around him, trying to act like they had all the time in the world just to dedicate to the blond. Kaiba ignored them, stopping at the receptionist desk._  
 _"Is Dr. Haynes coming in today?"_  
 _He asked the young woman, who was frozen at her desk trying to disappear. She swallowed hard, nodding faintly._  
 _"He's doing rounds right now on another floor, he will be up here in an hour or so."_  
 _She managed to say, causing Kaiba to groan internally with annoyance. This was going to be a long day if everyone he talked to acted like that._  
 _"Let him know that I am here, and I would like to discuss some things about Jou's case with him when he is free. I'll be in my husband's room, please come get me the moment he's free."_  
 _Kaiba's eyes rested on her badge, reading her name quickly._  
 _"Thank you Tina. Also, if the nurse who was in the room when Jou woke up is available, I'd like to speak to him also whenever possible."_  
 _Tina bopped her head up and down, reaching for the phone to put in Kaiba's requests. He nodded to her, then walked into Jou's room to get himself set up. He got plugged in, then sat down next to the bed, linking his fingers with Jou's as he began to read emails._

XXXXXX

Mai woke up on Monday covered in sweat. Tomorrow would be the first day of the trial, and she was not looking forward to seeing him again, reliving all the things that had happened to her. They were meeting with the DA today, to go over her testimony about what had happened. It was not quite dawn yet, but Mai knew she was done sleeping.  
Instead, she pulled off the covers, walking over to the window to watch as the sun started peeking up in the distance. A light rap on her door caught her attention, and she opened it, surprised to see Yugi's grandpa standing there.  
"These old bones don't sleep much anymore, I heard moving around, would you care for some tea?" Mai smiled and nodded, looking forward to the distraction.  
Solomon handed her a cup before pouring his own, settling down at the kitchen table and looking over at the younger woman. Mai stared out the window, trying to ground herself and get those thoughts out of her head.  
"When Yugi was three, his parents were in a car accident. Some teenage got drunk and hit their car. Yugi's mother made it but my son was died later on in the hospital." Solomon paused for a minute, closing his eyes and remembering that fateful phone call.  
"I was in Egypt at the time, on a dig for another Pharaoh's tomb. I would be gone for months, and back then there was no cell phones that you could keep in touch with everyone. One of the members of the dig would go into town twice a week for supplies, and get our messages. The day I heard what happened, one of the locals came to us, called me by name, and told me I needed to get home."  
He paused, the memories of that fateful day coming back to haunt him as he spoke.  
"That phone call was the worst moment of my life, when everything changed. I flew back home as soon as I could. Yugi was staying with a friend of the family, he was only three at the time. His mother had a severe concussion, multiple broken bones, and a fractured back. They weren't sure if she would ever make it."  
Solomon placed his hand on top of Mai's, looking at her sadly before he continued. "You see, back then, they weren't as concerned about addiction as they are now. Yugi's mother was given all sort of pain pills, and eventually they stopped working for her. She started injuring herself, trying to get more, and would sneak out of the house to buy off the street. I finally confronted her, worried that something would happen, and she decided to get help. I was so proud of her. She kicked the habit, and was clean for 2 years. I thought the worst was over, that she would be able to heal completely and take care of her son, my grandson. Then, we got the news that the kid who had caused the accident was being let out of jail, they claimed he had served his time, and since he was a juvenile when it happened he was going to be given a second chance. He came here shortly after, asking for forgiveness and asking what he could do to make up for the terrible things he had done. Yugi's mother couldn't handle it. She forced him to leave, and two days later I found her on the couch. She had overdosed during the night, and it was too late for me to do anything but keep Yugi from seeing her."  
Solomon was trying to keep himself together, while Mai had tears flow freely down her cheeks. This was the story she had heard a hundreds of times before, from other addicts who had watched their friends die, and the families who tried so hard to help them. Solomon tightened his grip on Mai's hand squeezing it twice to make sure he had her attention.  
"I know that the next few weeks are going to be trying for you. This man put you through so much, and it will be easy for you to want to fall into your old habits. Don't let him win. Don't let him destroy the life you are trying to rebuild. If you need help, we are here for you. Whatever you need, don't hesitate to ask. Just don't make my grandson go through that again." Mai nodded through her tears, reaching over to hug the old man who cried with her.

XXXXXX

Joey stood in front of the mirror, adjusting his tie yet again. Seto sat on the bed, watching him. The two had barely spoken since their fight on Saturday, the only reason they were sharing a room right now because Lisbeth had noticed the tension between them, and had insisted on having a sleep over in her parent's room last night. Right now she was sitting next to her father, and Seto was trying not to laugh at Joey's attempts to make himself presentable.  
"Let me help you fix that Joseph." He finally said, standing behind the blond to straighten him out. Joey grinned at his reflection, trying to hide the tension in his shoulders at his husband's touch. Lisbeth giggled, jumping up to hug both of her dads around the legs. Joey ruffled her hair, bending down to kiss her on the top of her hair.  
"You young lady need to get ready for school." He reminded her, shaking his head at her pouting face. "I don't want to hear it. There's only 3 days of school this week, so quit complaining."  
"Yes daddy." Lisbeth said, turning her head to try to sucker her father.  
"Don't even try it. Get dressed, now, or no video games tonight after your homework." Joey said, pointing at the door. Lisbeth pouted again, giving both of her dads a quick hug before leaving the room in a hurry. Joey turned back to the mirror, nodding in satisfaction at himself.  
"What time are we meeting the ADA today?"  
"I have an appointment at 9:00, yours is right after so you shouldn't have to miss too much work." Joey told him, and Seto waved away the comment.  
"I'm bringing my laptop, and Mokuba will be there to take care of any issues that might pop up. Plus, it'll give me a chance to talk to Pegasus about a few things." Joey nodded, looking back at the mirror sadly.  
"I can't wait for this to be over. I just want to go back to our regular lives, and finally banish my father to that hole in hell where he belongs." Seto nodded stiffly, not knowing what to say.  
"I'm going to make sure Lisbeth is getting ready, I'll see you downstairs." Joey nodded again, turning and looking at the mirror again, losing himself in thought. After a few minutes he shook his head, noticing his husband standing in the background looking at him. "I thought you wer-" Joey stopped speaking as he turned his head and realized that no one was there.

XXXXXX

"I thought we had an agreement about this Mr. Kaiba. You were put on a strict schedule of when to come here. I don't appreciate you not respecting my time and my staff's time." Dr. Haynes announced as he walked into Jou's room. Kaiba had been debating how to answer a particularly tough email, and was engrossed to the point he was actually startled when the other man spoke.  
"I'm sorry, am I not here during visiting hours? Have I made any demands that were unreasonable? If I crossed a line asking to speak to the nurse, then I apologize. I just had a few questions about when Jou woke up." Kaiba snapped back, urging himself to quiet down. Dr Haynes studied him for a few minutes before sighing and settling down on the other side of Jou's bed.  
"I understand how hard this must be for you, to see someone you care about like this. Carrying on and threatening people is not going to help this situation. We all want to see Jou wake up. We all want to see him go home, to get better and be able to get back to his life. Every person that works here has the same goals in mind, to help our patients." Kaiba gripped Joey's hand unconsciously, fighting back the urge to punch the doctor out.  
"I'm simply here to spend time with my husband. Ever since he woke briefly a couple of weeks ago, nothing has changed. I just want to be here if it does." Dr. Haynes eyed the CEO, who met his gaze calmly. Finally the doctor sighed, knowing he was not going to win this argument.  
"Fine, you can stay. However, any complaints from my staff and you will be escorted out. Is that understood?" Kaiba nodded, turning his attention back to Jou.  
"I'll send in the nurse to talk to you, if I can trust I don't have to be here to supervise you. Is that acceptable?" Kaiba nodded again, squeezing Jou's hand. "Alright, I will be in after I finish up on the floor, and we can address any concerns you may have." Dr. Haynes eyed him one more time before leaving, nodding to someone in the hallway.  
Kaiba watched as the nurse walked in, blinking in surprise when he realized who it was. "Ryou?"

XXXXXX

Joey fiddled with his hair, not knowing how to break the awkward silence that filled the room. Currently, it was just himself, Pegasus, and Mai sitting there waiting for an interview room to open up. Yami had brought the other two with him, and he was currently going over his story with the 2nd chair, while the head prosecutor was speaking with Kaiba. That left the three of them sitting in silence, waiting for it to be over. Joey looked over at Pegasus, determined to start something.  
"How's the new card series coming?" He asked quietly, watching as the silver-haired man beamed with joy.  
"Splendidly, turns out Yugi-boy is quite a wiz with the paintbrush when he puts his mind to it. Of course, he worries too much about his Dark Magician, but what can you do?" Pegasus shrugged, smiling. "The best part is having him around allows me to focus all of my energy on reviving my Funny Bunny cartoons. Buying the franchise was the best thing that I have ever done!" Joey groaned internally, locking eyes with Mai and smiling.  
Both of them knew well Pegasus's fondness for cartoons, having watched several of his battles during Duelist Kingdom. "I'm sure Funny Bunny is glad to have you Pegasus. Have you thought about bringing back Toon World?" Mai asked, stifling a giggle.  
"That's going to be the name of my new series- Funny Bunny: Toon World. The hilarious hijinks of a pink fluffly bunny who just wants to gain the friendship of the mean old White Dragon who lives next door and wants to do nothing but work all day."  
Both Joey and Mai choked on the word's 'white dragon,' causing Pegasus to cackle himself. "Don't worry, I gave this dragon red eyes… a perfect combo don't you agree?" Joey groaned, knowing that if he told his husband what Pegasus was doing the brunet was likely to make the silvered-hair man his own personal punching bag.  
"Please tell me this is never going to air."  
"On the contrary, I have several networks which are interested. The scripts are written, the pictures drawn, all I need is the proper voice cast and we will be all set. Do you think Mokuba might be interested in voicing my dragon? I think that he would have a good time with it." Joey groaned again, rubbing his temples as his husband approached them.  
"How did it go?" Joey asked, taking the older man's hand.  
"They took me off the list for now. I really don't know much except for background, and what you told me so they think I won't be needed. I was promised a 24 hour window if they changed their minds." Seto eyed Mai, noting with satisfaction that she was sitting as far away from Joey as she possibly could. He turned to Pegasus, noting the amused smile he still wore.  
"Are you ready for our meeting?" He questioned, and Pegasus pointed to his briefcase.  
"Anytime you are Kaiba-boy. It is always my pleasure to be at your beck and call."  
"Come on Joey, we are leaving. There's nothing else to do here." Pegasus winkled his nose in fake displeasure.  
"Now, now Kaiba, I don't want to bore Joseph with the details of our company plans. Let him stay here, I'm sure he'd rather spend some time with his friends then us." Joey sat frozen at Pegasus's words, looking down at his hands. Seto eyed him, then turned and looked at Mai.  
"Fine, if you insist Pegasus. Joey, when everyone is done, give us a call and we will meet you for lunch. Is that ok?" Joey nodded slowly, still looking at his hands. Seto turned on his heel, nodding to Pegasus to follow him. Joey held his breath, watching as the door closed. His phone beeped, and he looked down to see a text. 'Don't violate my trust.'

XXXXXX

 _The white-haired man looked over at Kaiba, frowning at him._  
 _"Hello Kaiba, I was told you wanted to speak to me." Kaiba stared at him, slacked-jaw. Ryou rolled his eyes at the brunet, stepping closer to the bed. "I know you haven't seen me in a while, doesn't mean you have to act so surprised to see me."_  
 _Kaiba shook his head, trying to clear it. "Sorry, I just didn't realize that you were the one who was in here when Jou woke up." Kaiba said, trying to recover from his surprise._  
 _"Yea, well, it surprised me too. I try to avoid this room like the plague, per your instructions." Ryou said, looking over at Jou and smiling softly. "What is it you want to know?" He asked, and Kaiba pulled out a piece of paper._  
 _"I just wanted to know some basics. What time it was, what you were doing, and if he said anything else to you. Oh, and since it's you, if you know where Mai is hiding. She disappeared when we tried to talk to her right after Joey woke up." Ryou smiled gently, patting Jou's arm and checking his vitals._  
 _"He seemed really confused for a few minutes, asked me why I was here and what I was doing. I tried to calm him, but he gave me that message before closing his eyes again. I wrote it down, figuring no one would question if the hand writing was off. As for Mai, she's still around. She comes in and sees him twice a week." Kaiba's eyes light up, standing up and leaning over Jou towards Ryou and whispered one word._  
 _"When."_


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Once again, thanks to WavesOver for reviewing! This chapter was influenced by too many episodes of Law and Order SVU court scenes... thank you for reading!

Two days later, Joey was sitting at the courthouse, watching as Yami testified to the horrors they had suffered. He tried to not let his eyes drift over to his father, feeling his heart twist into knots every time he looked at the man.  
The years had not been kind to the elder Wheeler, his blond hair fading away to a dirty color, peppered with silver. He had lost a ton of weight, his face looked drawn and gaunt. Yet there was still a spark there, a remembrance of the man who had bashed him in the face with a beer bottle, and who had broken several of his bones over the years.  
The pain in his shoulder was still there from all the times he had been forced to pop it back in, the scars that he carefully hid with his shaggy blond hair still burned, but he was here, a survivor. He was startled out of his thoughts by Yugi, who was mouthing something at him. He cocked his head, not sure what the shorter man was saying. Yugi leaned over, whispering into Joey's ear  
"They are calling for a break before Mai's testimony." Joey nodded, standing up and looking over at the door. There was his husband, standing in the back and staring at him. Joey quickly stood up, walking back over to him.  
"I didn't know you were coming today."  
"I wasn't going too, but I know how hard this testimony will be for you, and I wanted to show my support." Joey smiled sadly, hugging his husband before pulling him towards where Serenity and Yugi were. Yugi moved down, letting the two sit next to him.  
Yami appeared next, sighing as he scooted into the pew also. "That was awful. I hope this will be over soon." He muttered, wrapping an arm around Yugi's shoulder and sighing.  
Serenity shook her head, standing up. "I'm going to go check on Mai, and give her our support before she testifies." She announced, disappearing through the doors.  
Joey watched her, sighing. "Mai's the last one before the defense gets there chance. It doesn't seem that they are calling many people to defend my father, so hopefully this will be over soon." Joey commented, squeezing his husband's arm.  
Seto frowned, casting his eyes around before catching them with his father-in-law. The elder Wheeler was watching them, a sneer on his face. Seto kept his gaze, warning the man with his eyes. Finally, the judge hit the gravel, bringing them back to order.  
The prosecutor called Mai forward, having her sit in front of everyone. The smile the elder Wheeler's face grew during the questioning as Mai was forced to go over everything that he had done to her, the kidnapping, abuse, and rape. Finally, the defense was given the chance to talk to her, and the lawyer walked over, smiling at Mai charmingly.  
"Hello Mai. I know you've been through a terrible ordeal. I can't even imagine how you've survived all this, and yet here you are, ready to testify against my client, a poor, defenseless man who suffers from paranoid delusions and doesn't even know where he is." Mai's eyes cut over to her former captor, feeling herself tense up.  
"Now then, I don't have many questions for you, so let's get to it. When you were found, you were 7 months pregnant with my client's granddaughter, is that correct?"  
Mai nodded, clearing her throat. "That's correct."  
"Not to mention the fact that you had been in a relationship with a barely legal teenager when you yourself were much older than that, am I correct?"  
Mai blinked before nodding again, quietly agreeing with the statement.  
"Now, from what you've told us, the place you were kept in was pretty dark. You didn't really see anybody in there, but you recognized Mr. Wheeler from his voice is that correct?"  
Mai nodded a third time, not really understanding where he was going.  
"You also testified that you had never met Mr. Wheeler before your abduction when in fact you have. Mr. Wheeler has sworn to me that you met before, several days before his son had disappeared, and you showed up to his house looking for Joseph. You two had a brief conversation, then you left. Do you remember this day?" Mai blinked, trying to remember.  
"Not really. I do remember meeting someone on the stairwell, but he didn't introduce himself as Joey's father." Joey's father sat at the table, smirking at Mai while his lawyer leaned forward towards her.  
"We all know your reputation Ms. Valentine. We read the papers, we saw the magazines linking you with various older men over the years, mostly one night stands. You started a relationship with Mr. Wheeler's son soon after this meeting is that correct?" Mai nodded again, unable to speak as tears filled her eyes.  
"Perhaps he wasn't the first Wheeler that you had intimate time with?" The prosecutor was already shouting out his objections when Mai finally broke.  
"No! I never agreed to any of this! I never wanted him to touch me! I never-"Mai sobbed on the stand while the prosecutor demanded a recess. "Don't bother, I'm done with this witness. Thank you for your testimony Ms. Valentine."  
Mai hurried off the stand, pausing only to link eyes once with her former capture, who slowly winked at her and smiled. She disappeared out the doors, ignoring the cries of her friends. Joey sat frozen, not knowing what to do. He felt a tap on his shoulder, and he turned and looked at his husband. Seto leaned in, whispering into the blond's ear "Go. She needs you."  
Joey barely gave it another thought, kissing his husband on the cheek before running out the doors after Mai. Seto watched him go, pushing a button on his phone with a small smile, enjoying the chaos that had broken out around him.

XXXXXX

 _Ryou folded his arms, looking over the CEO in annoyance. "She's pretty worked up, said you're trying to smoke her out. Apparently Yugi's darker half talked to her, told her some crazy story about you not really being Kaiba, about this being some fictional world that got made up because of his shadow magic. Sounds like something my other half would have done, to be honest." Ryou stepped around the bed, peering into Kaiba's eyes._  
 _He then looked at Jou, who hadn't moved. He looked at Kaiba's hand, still holding Jou's. "I'm beginning to think that Atemu might not be as crazy as I thought." He muttered, straightening up._  
 _"Kaiba, I can't tell you anything about why Jou woke up. All I can do is tell you if I tell Mai to come here and talk to you, I'm putting my trust in you that nothing will happen to her or Lisbeth." Kaiba reached into his wallet, pulling out his family photo and handing it over to the white haired man. Ryou studied it for a minute, his face paling even more than it usually was._  
 _"I'll tell her to come immediately." He said, handing back the photo and backing out of the room. Kaiba leaned back, closing his eyes and sighing to himself._  
 _"So, what's your story?" A voice asked, and he snapped to attention, looking over at the blonde in the doorway._  
 _"How did you get here so fast?" Kaiba asked, looking down at his watch. "It really wasn't that fast. Ryou called me almost an hour ago, I couldn't find a babysitter." Mai said, settling into the chair on Jou's other side and taking his hand._  
 _Kaiba resisted the urge to slap her hand away, choosing instead to take a deep breath to relax himself. Mai watched, seemingly amused by him. "I can tell you're telling the truth. The Kaiba I know would never let anyone get away with touching his Jou." Mai let go of Jou's hand, patting him on the shoulder. "I keep hoping he'll wake up so he can meet his daughter. She's two, and she keeps wondering where her daddy is." Mai told him, tears in her eyes._  
 _"My Joey loves his daughter very much. She's the center of our whole household. You should see how smart she is, sometimes I swear she inherited my genes somehow." Mai chuckled at that thought, her whole face brightening._  
 _"I'm glad to hear that. I'd love to hear the story about how you and Joey ended up together. I still can't believe that this Kaiba was able to pull that one off."_  
 _"I don't want to get into all that. Let's just say you had some very horrible things happen to you and you were unable to take care of Lisbeth, so I stepped in." Kaiba said softly, adverting his eyes._  
 _Mai's eyes widened, and she nodded slowly in acceptance. Tears filled her eyes, and she leaned forward, softly crying into Jou's sheets. Fingers caressed her hair and she started, looking up at Kaiba. "You don't have to be nice to me." She informed him, pausing when she realized that he hadn't moved. Following his gaze, she looked into familiar honey-colored eyes. "Jou!"_  
 _He smiled at both of them, coughing once weakly. "You know, the last time I did this, there was a lot more people in here." He said. Kaiba snapped out of his shock and went to go find a nurse, when one walked in._  
 _"Is everything alright in here? We got a beep out at the station." She looked over at Jou, blinking several times before leaving the room and coming back with lightning speed. "The doctor is on his way. We are going to need to examine him, please go to the waiting room and we will get you as soon as possible." She herded them out, heading over to Jou's bed and talking to him in whispered tones._  
 _Ryou approached them, looking into the room with a smile. "Hopefully he stays awake this time. Go sit down, the doctor will be with you guys shortly." He said, pointing them towards a small room. Kaiba followed Mai, still trying to wrap his head around what had just happened._

XXXXXX

Hours went by, and no one was able to find Mai. She had disappeared outside the courtroom, and no one had seen her since. Joey was in a panic, calling hospitals, police stations, cabs, anything he could think of to find her. Seto watched in silence, enjoying this show even more.  
"She's out there on the streets somewhere, alone, after that animal attacked her. What if she goes to a dealer? What if she's dying right now from an overdose?" Joey yelled at him for the 10th time that evening.  
"Calm down Joey. We have plenty of people out looking for her, you just have to have faith that she will be found." Seto said smoothly, stroking the blond's arm.  
"I'm going to go out looking again. If anyone calls here, let me know if they have seen anything." Joey said, jerking away from his husband before grabbing a coat and marching out the door.  
Seto watched him go, picking up his own phone and calling a number. "It's me. Dump her, now."

XXXXXX

 _Mai and Kaiba sat in the waiting room, counting down the minutes to when they could see Jou. Finally, Dr. Haynes came in, smiling in relief at them. "Jou's awake, and what's more, it appears he's going to stay that way. You two can go in and see him, but be gentle. Stress could cause him to relapse again. He's pretty tired, so 15 minutes and then you'll have to leave. Understood?"_  
 _Both of them nodded, standing up to follow the doctor out. "I'll leave you alone, once you're done Mr. Kaiba, please meet me in my office." Kaiba nodded, entering the room with Mai right behind him._  
 _Jou was sitting up, scratching his head gently and looking like the 17 year-old boy he used to be. Kaiba and Mai took their seats next to him, and Jou snorted, looking back and forth between the two. "Looks like I'm not crazy. You two are getting along just fine."_  
 _He looked over at Kaiba with a raised eyebrow. "You don't need to explain anything to me. I know who you are, and I need you to listen carefully to me. He's after Mai, and if he kills her, you will be stuck here, and he will destroy the family that you have been fighting so hard for. You need to get back, drag him back here, and let this place die. That's the only way you'll be safe."_  
 _Jou coughed again, reaching for Mai's hand. "You need to go back the same way you got here, through the mirror, and hurry. He's going to destroy all of us if you don't." Jou closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before drifting back off to sleep._  
 _Kaiba growled, wanting to talk more to him, but Mai shook her head, pointing at her watch and nodding towards the door. The two left, quickly talking to the doctor about what the next steps were before leaving the hospital, heading for Yugi's. Kaiba entered the shop with Mai right on his heels, much to the shock of Atemu, who was sorting materials behind the register. "What's going on?" He demanded, looking at the two of them._  
 _"Where's Yugi? I need to talk to both of you." Kaiba told him, marching over to look the former Pharaoh dead in the eye._  
 _"He's upstairs cleaning. What's going on?" Atemu asked again, looking over at Mai. She smiled at him, winking._  
 _"Jou woke up while we were at the hospital."_  
 _Atemu's eyes lit up, and he ran out of the shop, yelling into the house the good news. Yugi ran into the shop, wrapping Kaiba up in a hug and almost knocking the taller man over._  
 _"Is it true? Did he really wake up?" He asked breathlessly, and Kaiba nodded. Yami dragged Marik into the room, the Egyptian bouncing up and down in excitement. The group began talking, sharing their excitement and wondering when they would be able to see their friend. Kaiba tried to calm them down, but no one listened. Finally, he jumped up on the counter and whistled loudly, causing everyone to look at him._  
 _"One at a time people. We don't have time for this. I need to get back to save my family, and I need your help. Jou told me he's after Mai, and if he kills her, then I'll be stuck her forever, and he will destroy everything we have all worked for. Any ideas?"_  
 _They were all silent, looking at each other. Finally Miho, who had shown up in all the excitement, spoke up sheepishly. "Well, from what I gather, he feed off of your anger and your insecurities. He was able to cross over the first time when you were jealous of Jou beating Atemu in a game, the second time was when you were jealous of Mai coming back."_  
 _"As your darker half, he feeds off of your anger and distrust, much like my other half once did. You need to accept the fact that you can't control everything. He uses the mirror as a way to force you to look into your soul and hate what you see." Marik said, mulling over his thoughts out loud._  
 _"So what, I have to look at a mirror and admit my faults and accept them? Is this some kind of weird Ancient Egyptian magic I haven't heard about before?" Marik shook his head, looking over at the brunet kindly._  
 _"Think about it. You've said yourself that ever since that first duel, you've been different. Maybe the change came gradually, but it happened. You two are the same age, but our Kaiba never made the emotional growth you have. Something was different, and that has to be your darkness being dragged out enough that you were able to have a normal life with someone who cared about you. Your darkness comes from the man who raised you, much like mine did." Marik looked around The Game Shop, pondering._  
 _"We just need a mirror that you can go through, one that is a replica of one you have at your home. Are there any that you can think of?" Kaiba thought over the mansion he had been staying in and shook his head slowly._  
 _"Joey and I got rid of so much throughout the years and remodeled to get rid of the memories. The only mirrors I can think of are in the hallway, and those were smashed when I came over."_  
 _"Well, it's a start. Let's go to your house, maybe we can find something that we can use." Yugi suggested, and they all hurried out the door, locking The Game Shop up behind them._

XXXXXX

Seto stood in the Mansion, not knowing what to do. His plan had been coming together flawlessly, until the idiots he had hired to kidnap Mai let her escape. Things were starting to unravel, and he was unsure of what his next step should be.  
He had taken the money out of the hospital fund the same day Mai had called, funneling it through channels to pay off the same gang that Joey's dad had dealt with years ago. The idea was to make it look like another junkie overdose. The cops would assume that Mai had relapsed after her testimony, and she would finally be out of his life forever.  
If they didn't finish off Mai now, he would get caught, and he would never be able to get his revenge on the woman who had destroyed everything for him. Seto tapped his phone against his lips, realizing at once what he must do. Run.

XXXXXX

 _After what seemed like hours of searching, the gang finally stood in front of a mirror. Hidden on the third floor, Kaiba had recognized it as the one in the dining room, smiling in relief. He turned towards Marik, figuring the Egyptian would be the best to ask, since he had experience beating a darker half._  
 _"So, what do I do now?" Marik smiled, reaching forward and touching the mirror gently._  
 _"Think about where you came from. Your past, the things that were done to hurt you. You need to admit who you are, the things that you have held on to that have allowed your darker self to exist. Once you admit them, you can let them go." Kaiba rolled his eyes, wondering if he was really going to go through with this. A glance at Atemu, and he was ready, reaching forward and touching the mirror himself._  
 _"My parents were killed when my brother was a baby, and my family who was supposed to take care of me abandoned us and took all of our money. I manipulated my adopted father into taking both of us home, and spent the next few years of my life being abused. Gozaburo didn't met a discipline tactic he didn't like, and I suffered for Mokuba's sake until the day I killed that bastard." Kaiba paused here, surprised to feel a sharp pang in his heart. Marik smiled at him, convincing him to continue._  
 _"I took over Kaiba Corp. I worked hard, sacrificed everything that I had, and I was the best, until the day I fought a battle with Yugi Muto. I couldn't get him out of my head, I became obsessed even to the point of hurting my little brother. I was so angry when I couldn't beat him, I could have lost everything I worked for because of him, and the board was ready to hand over my company to someone else just because I lost one game. Then Pegasus took Mokuba, and I almost lost him because I wasn't strong enough, smart enough to win."_  
 _Kaiba leaned his head forward, simply wanting a moment to collect himself, not prepared when he fell through the mirror onto his dining room floor._


	15. Chapter 15

Kaiba quickly stood up, dusting himself off. "I can't believe that worked." He muttered, looking around at his home. "I'd better go find Joey and see what's going on." He walked through the house, calling out for his husband and daughter.  
Finally he ran out to the security room, hoping there was someone there. "Is everything alright Mr. Kaiba?" Roland asked him, looking his boss over carefully.  
"Where is everyone? I need to talk to Joey right away." Kaiba said, looking over at the man he would trust with everything he had.  
"Joseph is out looking for Ms. Valentine, and I thought Lisbeth was with you? You told me an hour ago that you two were going out for dinner so she wouldn't know what was going on." Kaiba paled at those words, turning on his heel and running upstairs to his daughter's room.  
It didn't take long to see that she was gone, some of her clothes and shoes missing, as well as her stuffed teddy bear that she always slept with. Kaiba sank down next to her bed, covering his head in agony. He had been too late after all, and now his family was being punished. Once he composed himself, he noticed a note propped up on Lisbeth's pillow, written in his own hand. Shaking, he pickup it up, opening it to reveal a simple note. 'Welcome back Kaiba.'  
XXXXXX  
Yami looked up as Kaiba burst into the house, surprise etched across his face. "Kaiba?" He asked quietly, looking over the brunet who was clutching a note.  
"He's here. He's back and he's got my daughter."  
"What are you talking about? Who's back?" Kaiba handed him the note, and Yami stared at it, not understanding what Kaiba was saying.  
"That guy we fought all those years ago, the one who claimed he was my darker half? He's back. He's been impersonating me, and he wants Mai. He took Lisbeth, and I have to get her back."  
Yami blinked several times, trying to absorb everything Kaiba was telling him. "You mean the part of you I sent to the Shadow Realm? The one that kidnapped Mai? He's back again?"  
Kaiba nodded, and Yami cursed under his breath. "Does Joey know?"  
"No, he doesn't. I need to get in touch with him, but I don't have my phone right now, he does." Yami nodded, picking up his phone and calling his friend.  
Joey picked up on the first ring, sounding tired. "Yami? What's going on?"  
"Did you find Mai yet?" Yami asked him, peering over at Kaiba.  
"Well, the hospital called me. They found someone matching her description on the side of a road outside of town. I'm here now, but no one will let me see her. Everything ok?" Yami cut his eyes at Kaiba, chewing on his bottom lip.  
"I'm not really sure. Your husband's here, why don't you talk to him?" Yami handed over the phone, and Kaiba took it, steeling himself for the conversation.  
"Why haven't you been answering your phone? I've been calling you for the past 20 minutes. I was planning on coming home right after I checked to see if this is Mai."  
"Joey, Lisbeth is gone." Kaiba told him, causing the other man to pause.  
"I don't have a lot of time, but he took her because he wants Mai. Tell whoever is at the nurses' desk that you need a security guard in that room. Have them check her old files, you should still be listed as her next of kin. Yami and I are coming, and I'll explain everything when we get there." Kaiba promised, looking over at the Egyptian who had already gotten ready to go. Kaiba tossed him the keys, trying to calm down his husband as the two rivals made their way across town.  
XXXXXX  
Seto paced in annoyance, ignoring his blinking phone. He was holed up in a little motel right outside the city, the only place he could think of that wouldn't make him give out a credit card. Lisbeth was watching TV, excited that she was going on a fun trip with her father.  
Seto watched her now, wondering how hard it would be to dispose of her too. No, Joey would never forgive him for that. He'd get over the child's mother's death, and once he saw how happy the three of them were, he would understand why she had to go. His phone rang again, and he turned it off, turning towards his daughter and sitting carefully on the bed next to her.  
XXXXXX  
Joey blinked at his husband, trying to understand what he was saying. "So, you're saying that the person I've been living with the past few weeks hasn't been you at all? It's been that reject half of you that tried to kill all of us when we were teens?" Kaiba and Yami nodded and Joey groaned, reaching for his husband and falling into his arms.  
"I knew there was something weird going on. I was just so distracted by everything that I couldn't put it together." Kaiba held him gingerly, smiling to himself as Joey let out a few tears.  
"We need to get moving and find Lisbeth before he hurts her. Where do you think he could have gone to?" Yami asked the other two, and Kaiba frowned.  
"He's got to lay down low somewhere that won't ask a lot of questions. It's hard to hide when you're the public face of a company."  
"What does he want anyway? Seems like a lot of work to kidnap a kid, especially one with special needs like Lisbeth."  
"He wants Mai. He blames her for everything wrong in his life, and he wants to get rid of her so things can be better for him here. I don't think he wants to hurt Lisbeth at all, her medication is all missing out of the fridge." Joey gasped, picking up his phone again.  
"I've got to talk to him, she needs her sugar checked!" He said, calling the phone again. "I hope he gets this." Joey whispered, reaching for his husbands hand and attempting to hold back his tears.  
"So, what is our next move Kaiba?" Yami asked him, folding his arms.  
Kaiba looked around, thinking. "First, we need to secure Mai. Roland should be here in a few minutes. He will organize Mai's security for us. Next, we need Bakura and Marik. They can help us track down this other me." Kaiba blinked, realizing what he just said and sighing. Joey ignored him, picking up his phone and calling the former spirit without hesitation.  
"He's on his way. Sounds pretty excited about it too." Joey said once he was done on the phone.  
Yami nodded, looking between the two men. "Now, we just have to find him, and get Lisbeth back."  
XXXXXX  
Seto laid in bed, listening to the young girl next to him breathing. She had become upset when he tried to check her sugar, complaining that he didn't do it as well as Joey did, but Seto had reminded her that it was important, and she stopped struggling and let him prick her.  
Luckily nothing had been wrong, and she had gone to bed shortly after that, leaving Seto alone with his thoughts. He finally turned his phone on after midnight, watching as the calls and texts piled up. Joey must have finally gone to sleep, because his phone finally stopped lighting up around 1am.  
At 3:29, he got up, reaching over to tuck the young girl into bed and crept into the hallway. Hitting Joey's name, he waiting while the phone rang and rang, voicemail picking up after a minute. Frowning, he hung up, re-dialing again. This time there was an answer, a sleepy hello that sounded like music to his ears.  
"Hello Joseph. I hope I'm not disturbing you. How has your night been?" A pause, then Joey answered him. "It would be better if you two were here. Where are you? It's weird being in this house all by myself. Is Lisbeth ok?"  
Seto chuckled darkly, knowing the other was fishing for information. "She's fine, not that you really care. How's Mai? Is she as good as you remember?" He asked cruelly, listening as Joey sucked in his breath.  
"Kaiba, I don't know what you think is going on, but Mai and I haven't touched each other since she left me. Why would I want her when I have you?" Joey asked him, obviously trying to sound calm.  
"So, you're telling me that if I walked into the house right now you would be by yourself? No one lying in bed with you, no blonde hair on my pillow?"  
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm telling you Kaiba, there is no one here!" Joey shouted through the phone, causing Seto to laugh. "I'll be checking on you to make sure that's true Joseph. Don't worry, I'm going to take good care of our daughter, and once Mai is gone, we can be a family again, I promise." With that Seto hung up, turning off the phone so Joey couldn't call him back, making his way back into their room so he could silently pack.  
XXXXXX  
Several days later, Kaiba walked into the Kaiba Corp hospital building, stealthy getting past the guards. Roland had tracked the other him to a shady hotel outside of town, quickly directing several security men to the location. However, by the time they got there, all that was left in the room was one of Lisbeth's barrettes placed on top of a pillow along with a picture that she must had drawn.  
After that moment, Roland went into overtime, running down leads, annoyed to no end that he had been foiled by someone, even if they were as smart as his boss. He spread men out all over the city, encouraged by several phone calls that Joey had received that seemed to indicate he was still in the area.  
Finally the break came by pure dumb luck. One of the security guards overheard a conversation about Kaiba staying at the Kaiba Corp hospital hotel, locked up in one of the rooms testing the staff to make sure they were giving top of the line service to the families who were staying there. The information was quickly passed up the chain, Roland bursting into his boss's home office with the news.  
Kaiba had gone himself, instructing Roland to stay back in case something happened to him. Now, all he needed to do now was get there and get his daughter back. Taking the stairs two at a time he approached the top floor, carefully opening up the door to peer into the hallway.  
Walking past two doors, he stopped in front of the one, using the master key card he had snatched off the maid cart. He entered the room, only to stop short as he saw his double standing there with a gun.  
"Why hello, my better half, it's so nice to see you again." Seto purred as he pulled the trigger and dropped Kaiba to the floor.


	16. Chapter 16

Kaiba winced as the pain went through his body, expecting that he would bleed out quickly. Once he realized that wasn't going to happen, he relaxed a little, starting to feel around to see where it was he had actually been hit. When he felt no blood, he frowned, realizing that the pain he was feeling was slowly fading away.

There was a piece of paper on his stomach, and he opened it up quickly. 'Don't worry better half, I only have rubber bullets. Hurts like a bitch, but you'll survive. Thanks for playing my little game.' Kaiba finally managed to sit up, realizing too late that his other half and his daughter were gone.

XXXXXX

Mai sat up in her hospital bed, looking out the window. The beating she had suffered had broken her eye socket, as well as her arm, but luckily she was starting to heal.

The hospital was keeping her on a low-grade pain medicine, which terrified her given her past. So far, so good though, and Mai was starting to relax a little, besides the posted security outside her door. Speaking of which…

"Has Joey called yet? I haven't gotten an update today." The guard ignored her, tired of answering the same questions over and over again.

Mai sighed, looking down at her hands in agony. Once again, she was on the sidelines, unable to protect the people she cared most about.

'The last good thing I did was giving Yugi my star chips. I don't know why they even bother with me.' She whispered to herself, tears dripping down her face.

The guard looked at her, uneasy. "I'm going to go take a walk for a minute, will you be ok?" He asked, and Mai nodded, happy to be left alone. He left, letting the nurse know Mai would be alone for a minute. When he came back, she was gone.

XXXXXX

Seto stood on top of Kaiba Corp, holding Lisbeth in her arms. She was still unconscious from the drugs he had given to her while they were at the hotel. After shooting his other half, he drove here, to the place he had chosen to end everything. A couple of messages to the right people, and the stage was set. Now, he just had to wait.

XXXXXX

Kaiba crawled over to the phone in the room, frowning as he picked it up and realized there was no dial tone. Summoning all of his strength, he managed to stand up, trying to piece together a plan. The pain he was in indicated that the bullet had fractured at least one of his ribs, which would be a problem he could deal with later on.

Right now he had to get downstairs, find his car, and figure out where his other half had gone. Wincing with pain, he left the room, only to run into Yugi and Yami in the hallway.

"Kaiba, are you alright?" Yami asked, gently placing a hand on the taller man's arm. Yugi looked him over worriedly, checking him for injuries.

"We need to get out of here, he's got a gun, and he's got Lisbeth." Kaiba told them, looking between the two men as his brain started to piece things together.

"Wait, how did you guys get here so fast? I didn't call you." Yugi shook his head, offering Kaiba his shoulder while the three men walked towards the elevator. Yami took up Kaiba's other side, trying hard to keep him steady.

"Yugi got a call from you that you needed us here, so we ran over. From what you are saying, I take it that it wasn't you." Kaiba shook his head, standing in the elevator awkwardly, trying not to lean too much on the shorter men with him.

"Alright, let's get you in the car, then we can figure out our next move." Yugi suggested, digging the keys out of his pocket and leading the other two towards the parked vehicle. Yami supported Kaiba, matching his pace as the brunet struggled with each step.  
Kaiba managed to make it to the car, sitting down carefully in the backseat and letting Yugi shut the door for him. Once both of the shorter men were in, he held out his hand. "Give me your phone. I need to call Joey."

Yugi was already dialing the blond, turning the car on so the Bluetooth speaker would connect. The three occupants listened to the phone ringing, frowning as they realized it wasn't picking up, or going to voicemail. Once the rings got to 13, Kaiba ordered Yugi to hang up and call Mokuba instead.

"Hey Yug, did you find Seto yet? He's not answering his phone." Kaiba sighed, annoyed that this imposter was able to so easily fool the one person that mattered most to him.

"Mokuba, trace Joey's cell phone. He's not answering. I ran into our friend, and he shot me. We need to find Joey, I think he's next."

"He told me he was meeting you at the café for an early dinner to talk about strategy about an hour ago. Let me see if he is there." The sounds of rapid typing started, and the three men waited impatiently. Finally, Mokuba pulled up a location.

"It looks like he's still here at Kaiba Corp some Seto. Security says they haven't seen him leave the building at all. They're checking the cameras to see if they can find him, and they will let me know. They told me Mai is here too, you gave her temporary clearance to the office?" Kaiba shook his head, not knowing what his little brother was talking about.

Yugi glanced over at Yami before putting the car in reverse and backing up. "Alright Mokuba, we will be there in a few minutes. Stay in the room, and don't leave for anybody. I will call you back on this number, ok?"

Mokuba nodded, saying goodbye to his brother before getting up and locking his doors, sending his secretary a message that he was in a meeting and if anybody needed him they could email. He then shut the blinds, looking around the room to make sure he didn't miss anything. Hurrying over to the door that connected his office with his brothers, he locked that as well, wedging a chair up underneath it to make sure no one could come through.

XXXXXX

Joey stood up on the roof of Kaiba Corp, looking over the edge to see how many stories up he really was. Of course, this was the tallest building in the city, truly a testament to his husband's ego. Right now though, he wasn't worried about that. He was here to get his daughter and take her home, and to finally put an end to all of this.

"Joey?" His head flipped around in surprise, looking over at Mai and blinking.

"What are you doing here?"

"I got a phone call, telling me if I wanted to get my daughter back, I'd come here and get her. Have you found her yet?" Joey shook his head, looking around some more. He had been up on the roof for almost an hour at this point, trying to figure out what he was supposed to be doing.

"There's really not much up here except for a storage area that Kaiba keeps some stuff in. I already checked in there, and there's no sign that anyone has been in it. He's got us running around the city like a bunch of idiots. He's probably somewhere laughing at us right now." Joey slammed his fist on the edge of the roof in anger.

Mai patted him on the shoulder, trying to calm him. "What can I do to help you?"

Joey sighed, digging in his pocket for his phone. He handed it to Mai, who read the message carefully. "Go back to where my obsession began? What does that mean?"

Joey gestured dramatically around, looking frantic. "I thought he meant here… this is where we dueled that one time and I told him about beating Yami. This is where he first started to feel something for me, where he first realized that I was worth his time. Clearly though he is not here. Where could he be?"

"I'm going back downstairs to see Mokuba, maybe he can help figure this out." Joey said, turning and running back down the stairs. The two blond's emerged in front of the brother's offices, and Joey went to open Mokuba's before he was stopped by Cynthia.

"I'm sorry Joey, but Mokuba told me he is not to be bothered by anyone at the moment except for his brother or security. He's in an important meeting."

"You know I have unlimited access to Mokuba, Cynthia. Please, I'm not trying to get you into trouble, but I need to speak to him now, and he's not answering his phone." Cynthia held up a finger, picking up her own phone and pressing Mokuba's direct line. She spoke briefly before hanging up.

"Mokuba said his brother is on his way up, and he will let you all in at once. Until then…" She pointed at a chair, and Joey sank down next to Mai sheepishly, looking at Cynthia through his bangs.

Cynthia winked, clearly not angry with him. "You're just lucky your food bribes are so delicious." She told him sternly, and Joey chuckled despite himself, placing his hands in his lap to wait like a good boy.

XXXXXX

Even though it was a short trip, by the time Yugi pulled into the parking lot, Kaiba had managed to dull a lot of the pain he was in through breathing exercises. It was a habit he had picked up after years of abuse from his step father, and it served him well throughout many of his adventures.

Yami offered him a hand getting out of the car, but Kaiba strolled back into the building on his own, nodding briefly to security as the three men passed through. Taking the elevator, he relaxed slightly, placing a hand on his side to try to measure the damage. Yugi eyed him but didn't say anything, while Yami kept opening his mouth and thinking better of whatever he was going to say.

Finally they made it, and the first thing Kaiba saw was Joey, sitting next to Mai and holding her hand. The scene made him flinch involuntarily, remembering how Jou and Mai had carried on an affair behind his other halves back. Joey jumped up when he saw them, running over to his husband worriedly.

"What took you guys so long? Mokuba won't let me inside!"

"That's because I told him not too." Kaiba said, holding out his hand for Yugi's cell phone. He quickly called his brother, whispering into the phone before hanging up. The door opened, and Mokuba stuck his head out, walking over to the group. Kaiba pulled his little brother close to him, not wanting to let him out of his sight.

"Alright, now that we are having our big family reunion, what's next? He's got us on one of those stupid scavenger hunts again, we got to find Lisbeth before he hurts her!" Joey snapped, pulling out his phone to show his husband and friends the message he had received.

Kaiba read it over, muttering to himself before snapping his fingers and taking off for the stairs, leaving the rest of them to follow him.

"Do you really think it's a good idea to be running down all these steps when you are hurt Kaiba?" Yugi asked, struggling to keep up with the rest of the group. Kaiba didn't hear him, being almost a full flight ahead with Joey on his heels.

Mai was hobbling along with Yugi, her injuries making it hard to keep up with them as well, but she was determined to keep up as well as she could. About halfway down, Kaiba stopped, yanking open a door violently before leading them into a halfway. A right, two lefts, and straight led them to another elevator, which he punched the down button for.

Mokuba's eyes widened as he realized where they were going. "You don't think… he couldn't have could he Seto?"

Kaiba nodded, holding the door open on the elevator to let them all in. "He finished the prototype didn't he? The one you were going to use on Yugi." Mokuba's eyes widened, and he stared at his brother in horror.

"That's where the missing money went to, isn't it? He used it to finish building that machine you were working on when you went away, and never got to finish. The one that you did the preliminary testing on Yugi's grandfather, that almost caused his heart attack. I thought you destroyed that, you promised me you did!" Kaiba shook his head, holding up his hand to defend himself.

"I never finished it Mokuba. He did. He used it during a game that he made where he tried to kill Yugi, Joey, Tea and Tristan. First, he used it on Yugi's Grandpa. Then, he got you to challenge Yugi to a game, and when you lost…" Kaiba trailed off, not knowing how to finish his story.

Mokuba froze, wishing suddenly that he hadn't been asking any questions. "You would have left me sitting in my own nightmares if I lost to Yugi Seto?"

Yami placed a hand on Mokuba's shoulder, trying to comfort him. "So where are we going then Kaiba?" Yugi asked, trying not to recoil as the brunet turned his blue eyes to him.

"Back to 'where my obsession began.' Where I dueled your Grandfather for his Blues Eyes."


	17. Chapter 17

Once they got out of the elevator, Kaiba started running again, not caring if anyone was actually behind him. He made it to the tunnel, yanking open the door and disappearing inside before the rest of them could catch up. Joey managed to grab the door right before it closed, standing and holding it open for the rest of their group to go through.

"Be careful in here guys. This tunnel goes under the Kaiba Corp parking lot, so don't be surprised if you hear traffic above us. This is one of our escape routes." Mokuba informed them, taking the lead through the tunnel. "Seto built several of these years ago, and if you are not careful, you'll just end up right back at the beginning."

Once they made it to the end, they found Kaiba, staring at the door.

"What's wrong Kaiba?" Yami asked, and Kaiba shook his head.

Putting his finger to his lips, he pulled the door open, ushering the group inside. "The arena that I dueled Yugi in is on the second floor. It's been closed off for years, I'm not sure what we will find."  
He informed the group, leading them quietly up the stairs. He approached a door in the back, wincing when he saw the padlock had been forced off. Hand on the doorknob, he locked eyes with Joey before steeling himself and opening the door, only to be knocked to the ground immediately.

White hair fell into his eyes, and he looked up to see Bakura kneeling over him, ready to strike. The former spirit hesitated when he looked into Kaiba's eyes, quickly getting off of him and helping the taller man to stand back up.

"What are you doing here Bakura?" Yugi asked, looking at him in surprise.

"Tea got a message to meet you guys here almost two hours ago. We've been looking around for you guys all afternoon!" Bakura informed them, looking annoyed.

"Who's 'we?' You didn't drag a pregnant woman all the way out here when there's a mad man loose did you?!" Yugi yelled back, glaring at his former tormentor.

Bakura shook his head, taking a step back and holding up his hands in defeat. "Ryou, Marik and Malik are here also. I've been watching the door, waiting for this other Kaiba to show up. So when I saw him come in, I thought I finally had him. Sorry about that."

Kaiba ignored him, too busy trying to breath enough to numb the pain he was in. "Never mind that, have you guys found anything?"

Bakura shook his head, leading the group over to where Tea was. "This place is even creepier than I remember." She commented, looking around. "Of course, I only saw it for a minute, but it's haunted me for years." She got up carefully, looking over her friends.

Marik, Malik and Ryou appeared then, having heard the other's talking. "Did you guys see anything?" Joey asked them hopefully, his hopes crashing as they all shook their heads no.

"We've searched this entire room, and nothing. No signs that anyone's been here at all."

"Maybe you should have looked harder then." Seto interrupted them, emerging from behind the group with a smile.

"Where did you come from?" Joey hissed, clenching his fists and staring at the brunet, realizing with a start that the other man's hair was starting to turn back into its original green color.

"Give me back my daughter and we will let you go." He stated calmly, looking into the blue eyes that reminded him so much of the Kaiba he had met all those years ago, before Egypt and magic had changed him for the better.

"Lisbeth is fine, I have been taking care of her like a good father. Not that I can say the same about you and Mai, so worried about seeing each other again that you couldn't even notice what was right under your noses. Pathetic, the both of you, sneaking around behind my back and thinking I wouldn't find out."

"What are you talking about? We haven't seen each other in years, ever since I walked out on Joey and Lisbeth after what you did!" Mai yelled, looking at the brunet in anger.

"Like I believe that. You can't keep your pants on when you are around each other, it's been that way since Duelist Kingdom. All those years you two were all over each other, you expect me to believe that has changed?"  
"Believe it. He's not your Jou, we are actually happy together." Kaiba interrupted, stepping in front of his husband protectively.

Seto laughed, looking at him in surprise. "Well, if it isn't my better half. I see you survived our last run in, hopefully this time the outcome will be more in my favor."

"Give it up, we have you outnumbered. Now let us take Lisbeth, and you can go." Joey told Seto, taking a step forward.

Seto shook his head, pointing his finger at Yami and grinning. "Not before I have a little fun first." He strolled up to Kaiba, grabbing his other half and pulling him into the middle of the group. "Now Kaiba, I have assembled most of the people who have caused you grief over the years, the ones you call your friends now. I'm just waiting for one more thing."

Seto snapped his fingers, and the door to the storage area opened and Duke and Tristan stepped out, carrying a sleeping Lisbeth with them.

"Hail hail, the gang's all here." Seto said mockingly, looking around at the group. "Now, let's start our little game. It's going to be a lot of fun, I promise."

"What is the meaning of this Kaiba!" Yami snapped, trying to step forward to confront the other man but finding he was unable to move.

"Now now Pharaoh. You try so hard to prove you're better than me, but you are really not. This is one of your famous Yami No Games, or shadow games as you call them. You used to play these all the time with people who have wronged you, and now the tables have turned and you are the one who is going to be tormented by them." Tristan and Duke walked through their friends, coming to a stop by both Kaiba's.

"Your friends here are under my control, so don't bother blaming them for whatever the outcome of this game might be. Now then, rules are simple. Yami and I fight a battle for the girl. He wins, he can banish me to wherever he wants too. I win, I get the girl, and she dies." Seto pointed at Mai, who flinched internally.

Yami stepped forward to agree to the challenge but Mai shook her head, placing a hand out to stop him.

"Let me do this Yami. She's my daughter." With that Mai stepped forward, looking Seto straight in the eye. "I challenge you to a duel, and when I win, we will never see your face again."

Seto laughed, amused at her face. "I wouldn't waste my time with you. You mean nothing to me."

"Oh yeah?" Mai asked, smiling gently. Before anyone could stop her, she grabbed Joey by the shirt and pulled him closer, kissing him deeply on the lips. Kaiba flinched, while Seto laughed, clearly enjoying himself.

"Fine, if that's the way you're going to be… I'll enjoy destroying you almost as much as I would Yami." With that he motioned her over to the glass box, opening the door to let her inside before turning and addressing the rest of them.

"You can all watch from here, but you won't be able to hear anything. If anybody comes to close, I will take her out before this game is over. Now, bring Lisbeth over here." Duke walked over, placing the child carefully into Seto's arms. He brought her inside, shutting the door behind him.

He started to talk to Mai, but the gang outside was unable to hear what they were saying. Kaiba walked up to the glass, staring at his counterpart in anger. Joey joined him, walking around the box trying to see what was going on. The smoke was building up inside, turning the occupants into shadows.

Right before they disappeared completely, Seto looked up, caught Kaiba's eye, and winked at him with a smile. Kaiba lunged, banging into the glass as he tried to break through. Marik caught him, grabbing one arm while Malik grabbed the other.

"Kaiba, listen to me." Marik said, struggling to hold back the brunet. Bakura ran over, grabbing Kaiba by the collar and pulling him to the ground. The three men held the CEO down, waiting for him to wear himself out.

"Kaiba please, you have to calm down. You're helping him to win." Marik said, dodging as Kaiba managed to get his arm free and started swinging. Joey grabbed the arm, nodding to Marik to keep talking while he tried to calm his husband. Mokuba came over too, kneeling next to his brother while Bakura backed off.

Finally, Kaiba stopped, trying to catch his breath. "Seto, I don't understand what's going on." Mokuba said, jumping back a bit as a hand appeared through the smoke to bang on the glass.

"Mai!" Joey shouted, abandoning his husband to go back to trying to see his former lover. Mokuba looked back at the glass, then at his brother lying on the floor.

"Did you really do this Seto? Did you make something this awful?" He asked, backing away from the brunet with tears in his eyes. "I never knew how horrible you were. What did Gozaburo do to you? I can't be around someone who could think up something like this."

Yugi placed a hand on Mokuba's shoulder, hugging the younger man while he cried silently. The rest of the gang slowly moved forward, looking between the glass box and Kaiba with apprehensive stares. The formed a circle around the glass, watching for any signs of Mai and Lisbeth.

Mokuba just stood there, watching in horror as the duel continued. Even though they couldn't hear anything, every once in a while they could make out a glimmer of movement, and their previous experience with these kind of duels let them fill in some blanks.

"Come on Mai, you can do it!" Joey said, sinking down to the floor in despair. "I never should have let you leave, I should have been there for you. I'm so sorry Mai. Just find a way to win, and we can finally be happy again, I promise." He whispered, trying to fight back his tears.

Kaiba laid on the floor, listening to the people who meant everything to him, dismiss him as if he were nothing. The feeling of emptiness began to build, along with the rage and anger that he had let go of years ago. He could feel himself slipping, letting his old self back into his own body, when a harsh slap jolted him.

"Kaiba, listen to me. You must fight this!" Malik said, shaking his body. "Whatever you are seeing, whatever you are feeling it's not real. It's just your other half trying to take over your mind! Fight him! Push him out, whatever you have to do, just don't let him win!" Kaiba clenched his jaw, steeling his mind against this intrusion as best as he could. "Just open your eyes Kaiba, show him he is not in control." Malik begged him, and Kaiba listened.

As Kaiba's eyes opened, he started to cough violently, breathing in smoke. He reached around blindly, looking for some sort of release button to vent the room. Once he found it, the fan turned on, sucking out enough of the smoke that he could vaguely see Mai across the table.

"Kaiba?" She asked timidly, looking at him in concern. "What's going on?" He asked her, looking down to see Lisbeth still lying on the floor.

"I think you beat him. He stopped in the middle of summoning Blue Eyes and fell forward onto the table." Mai stood up, leaning forward to peer into Kaiba's eyes. She touched his hair, smiling a bit at him.

"Are you ok?"

"I think so" Kaiba replied, closing his eyes and enjoying a moment of peace with someone.

'What are you doing with her? I gave you a winning hand, use it to crush her and take Joey back!'

A voice whispered inside his head, and Kaiba looked up at Mai, then outside the box to where he could finally start to make out his husband and brother.

'You know you are nothing without me Kaiba. I'm the best part of you.' Seto hissed, annoyed that his other half hadn't finished the duel yet. Kaiba shook his head, trying to ignore the voice.

"If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's there's only one way to defeat a crazy personality."

With that Kaiba looked Mai straight in the eye while he covered his hand over his deck and surrendered the duel.

Seto watched in horror as his weaker half conceded to Mai without flinching.

"No, what are you doing Kaiba! What is wrong with you?" He yelled, banging on the glass mirror, panicking as he could feel himself being erased.


	18. Chapter 18

Yami stood in front of the archway, beaming as Yugi walked down the aisle with his Grandpa. Pegasus, ever the romantic, had offered them Duelist Kingdom for their wedding, mentioning with a smile that Croquet would be more than happy to perform the ceremony.

Next to Yami, Kaiba and Tristan stood proudly, wearing matching tuxes. Joey and Tea were on the other side, both trying not to cry as Yugi approached. Finally, they made it, and Grandpa hugged Yugi before hugging Yami and sitting down next to Lisbeth.  
The ceremony went by quickly, and soon the crowd of over a hundred was at the reception. Pegasus had spared no expense, and when Kaiba had heard how much the older man was willing to pay, he threw in his own money, offering free transportation for all the guests and upgrading their honeymoon package, as well as throwing a tournament in their honor before the festivities.

Pegasus had laughed when Yugi told him, glad that Kaiba's ego was still in check. Now, he sat at the reception of his former rivals, laughing as the two people who had once destroyed his dreams danced in each other arms, oblivious to everyone else.  
Mokuba was dancing with Lisbeth, while Kaiba was with his own husband, deep in conversation. Once the song was over, Lisbeth ran back over to her mother, who had been sitting down with Tea's baby, Auren.

After Joey's dad had been convicted and sent away, Kaiba had invited Mai over to discuss a more permanent role in her daughter's life. Mai had to undergo therapy, and she was subjected to Kaiba's random drug tests, but being able to spend time with her child had caused a radical change in Mai's looks and personality.

Lisbeth had been thrilled, telling everyone she could about her two daddies and her mommy, to the point that Joey had to talk to her and have her stop. Kaiba watched as his daughter sat with her mother, talking to her about something that had happened in school that week.

Joey slid up next to him, wrapping his arms around his husband and smiling.

"How you doing Kaiba?" He asked softly, standing on his tip toes to kiss his husband's cheek. Kaiba nodded, turning towards Joey and giving him a hug.

"Thank you for staying with me through all of this craziness. You've made me a better man. You, Mokuba and Lisbeth have saved me from becoming what Gozaburo tried to force me to become." Joey smiled, kissing Kaiba passionately while the rest of the party continued around them.


End file.
